Urban joblessness at 11-week high

According to CMIE, the unemployment rate, on a 30-day moving average, was 7.1% for the country, 8.2% in its urban areas and 6.6% in rural areas.

The urban jobless rate rose to its 11-week high of 8.75% in the week ended November 28. The jobless rate in towns and cities was 8.14% in the previous week and 9.2% for the week ended September 12, the highest level in recent times.

The spike in urban joblessness, however, did not led to a rise in country’s coverall unemployment rate, which actually fell to 6.95% for the week ended November 28 from 7.39% a week earlier and 7.35% for the week ended September 12, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

This is mainly because of a 93 basis point fall in the rural unemployment rate to 6.11% for the November 28 week compared to 7.04% a week earlier and 6.51% for the week ended September 12.

“The urban unemployment has remained elevated in the past three weeks and has been rising during November 2021. Simultaneously, the employment rate was falling although there was some recovery in the last two weeks. Jobs might have shrunk in urban India during November,” CMIE’s MD & CEO Mahesh Vyas told FE.

The urban jobless rate started falling following the week ended September 12 helped by an increased demand for manpower during the festival season; but started rising again to hover at over 8% from the second week of November.

According to CMIE, the unemployment rate, on a 30-day moving average, was 7.1% for the country, 8.2% in its urban areas and 6.6% in rural areas.

The monthly unemployment rate for the country was 7.75% in October, up from 6.86% in September. In September, the urban unemployment rate (8.62%) was higher than the rural areas (6.06%) and the reverse in October. The urban rate for October was 7.38% compared with 7.91% in rural areas.