Unemployment Rate on Rise Since 2017, Touches 7.2 Per Cent in February 2019: CMIE Report
According to Mahesh Vyas, head of the CMIE, the unemployment rate in India has climbed despite a fall in the number of job seekers.
New Delhi, March 6: According to a report from the project-tracking database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate in India has been rising since 2017. In February 2019, the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent, the highest since September 2016, the report said. The unemployment rate was 5.9 percent in February 2018. According to Mahesh Vyas, head of the CMIE, the unemployment rate in India has climbed despite a fall in the number of job seekers.
"While the labour participation rate has been falling, the unemployment rate has been rising...The unemployment rate in February 2019 was 7.2 per cent. This was higher than the 7.1 per cent unemployment rate in January 2019 and much higher than the 5.9 per cent unemployment rate in February 2018 or the 5 per cent in February 2017," Vyas said. The CMIE head also said that the labour participation rate was on a decline. Unemployment Rising, 1 Crore People Lost Jobs in 2018: CMIE.
"Till October 2016, both, the labour participation rate and the unemployment rate were high. Post demonetisation, both fell. Then, from July 2017, unemployment started to rise but the labour participation rate did not. Initially, the labour participation rate recovered a bit and then stabilised. But after February 2018, labour participation rate also started declining," Vyas stated. He further said there was a sharp fall in employment rate post-November 2017. Rahul Gandhi Attacks Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley As Investments Fall to 14-Year-Low in India.
"The employment rate in India skid onto a sharply declining trend from November 2017 when it was 41.8 per cent. By December 2018, it fell to 39.5 per cent. In February 2019, the ratio was 39.7 per cent," he said. He observed that India's problem is not a high unemployment rate but lack of job opportunities. Low job opportunities have resulted in a reduction in wages in private and unorganised sectors.
"India’s problem is not the unemployment rate as much as it is the employment rate. We have a low unemployment rate because we have a low labour participation rate. At the core of the problem is very low job opportunities. The low job opportunities compared to the size of the working age population have reduced wages in the private and unorganised sectors to a point, where, only the desperate are willing to take up such jobs," Vyas said.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2019 05:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).