Jobless rate drops to lowest level in 3 yrs

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Jobless rate for persons aged 15 years or above dropped to 3.1% in 2023. This figure is the lowest in the last three years, according to a report of National Sample Survey Organisation.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2023 says the unemployment rate came down to 3.1 per cent in 2023 from 3.6 per cent in 2022 and 4.2 per cent in 2021.

The data suggests the employment scenario is improving after the pandemic in March 2020, which forced  the government to impose lockdown to curb the spread of deadly corona virus.

The unemployment rate among females also declined to 3 per cent from 3.3 per cent in 2022 and 3.4 per cent in 2021.

Similarly for males, it came down to 3.2 per cent in 2023 from 3.7 per cent in 2022 and 4.5 per cent in 2021. The overall rate of unemployment also declined in urban areas to 5.2 per cent in 2023 from 5.7 per cent in 2022 and 6.5 per cent 2021.

In rural areas, it came down to 2.4 per cent in 2023 from 2.8 per cent in 2022 and 3.3 per cent in 2021. Labour force participation rate (LFPR) in Current Weekly Status (CWS) in urban areas for people aged 15 years and above increased to 56.2 per cent in 2023 from 52.8 per cent in 2022 and 51.8 per cent in 2021.

Labour force is the part of the population which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities  for the production of goods and services and includes the entire employable population.

The estimates of unemployed persons in CWS give an average picture of unemployment in a short span of seven days during the survey period.

In the CWS approach, a person is considered unemployed if he/she did not work even for one hour on any day during the week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour on any day during the period.

Labour force, according to CWS, is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week preceding the date of the survey. LFPR is defined as the percentage of the population in the labour force. Worker Population Ratio (WPR) is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population. The WPR also increased to 53.4 per cent in 2023 from 49.8 per cent in 2022 and 48 per cent in 2021. With inputs from PTI