Q3 unemployment rate in urban areas falls to 6.6%: NSSO

livemint.com:

NSSO) on Wednesday released a report that showed the unemployment rate in urban areas fell to 6.6% in the September quarter of the current fiscal year 2024 from 7.2% a year ago. Among the males, the unemployment rate in urban areas fell to 6% in July-September compared to 6.6% in the year-ago period. It was 5.9% in April-June 2023, 6% in January-March 2023 and 6.5% in October-December 2022.

According to the survey, the unemployment rate among females (aged 15 years and above) in urban areas declined to 8.6% in July-September from 9.4% in the same quarter a year ago. It was 9.1% in April-June, 9.2% in January-March and 9.6% in October-December 2022. According to the 20th Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above in July-September 2022 was at 7.2% in urban areas.

In the March quarter of the previous fiscal, the unemployment rate stood at 6.8%, while it was 6.6% in April-June. Joblessness, or unemployment rate, is defined as the percentage of unemployed people in the labour force. In urban areas, the labour force participation rate in current weekly status (CWS) rose to 49.3% in the July-September quarter of 2023, from 47.9% in the same period a year ago, said the report.

It was 48.8% in April-June 2023, 48.5% in January-March 2023 and 48.2% in October-December 2022. The ‘labour force’ refers to the part of the population, which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for the production of goods and services and, therefore, includes both employed and unemployed persons. The PLFS was launched by the NSSO in April 2017.