Lowest in unemployment Delhi, highest in Kerala in prime age group

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Unemployment rate in India among all age groups stood at 6.7% in the January-March quarter of FY24, a tad below the 6.8% clocked in the corresponding quarter in FY23, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released recently has stated.

Disaggregated to the state level, the survey found that Delhi reported the lowest unemployment rate in the January-March quarter while Kerala had the highest, in the 15-29 age group – the prime group when most go out to seek their first job.

The survey released by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MOSPI) sets out the data obtained from 22 states and Union territories.

The five states with the lowest joblessness rate were Delhi (3.1%), Gujarat (9%), Haryana (9.5%), Karnataka (11.5%) and Madhya Pradesh (12.1%).

Among the states with the highest unemployment rate were Kerala (31.8%), J&K (28.2%), Telangana (26.1), Rajasthan (24%) and Odisha (23.3%).

The survey reported that the highest female unemployment incidences were found in J&K (48.6), Kerala (46.6%), Uttarakhand (39.4%), Telangana (38.4%) and Himachal Pradesh (35.9%). On the other hand, the states that shone with less unemployment rates among women are Delhi (5.7%), Gujarat (10.9%), Madhya Pradesh (13.5%), Haryana (13.9%) and Karnataka (15%).

Only three out of the 22 states and UTs had single digit unemployment rate – Delhi (3.1%), Gujarat (9%) and Haryana (9.5%).

In terms of the overall unemployment scenario in the country, the rate in Q4 was slightly more than the 6.5% in Q3 (October-December) of the last financial year.

What would trigger the biggest concern to the policymakers is the double-digit joblessness rate in the 15-29 age group. The unemployment rate in this prime group predictably rose during the pandemic. It decelerated after the scourge ebbed but remains a red flag to the government that is trying to create jobs in manufacturing and other sectors.

The PLFS is done once every three months. It measures joblessness rate, labour force participation rate and worker population ratio.

The unemployment rate is calculated on the basis of the current weekly status. Under this parameter, a person is considered ‘unemployed’ in a week if he or she did not work even for one hour on any day during the week but was available for work for at least one hour on any day during the reference week, says the survey parameters.