The unemployment rate for both males and females aged 15 years and above declined to 6.8% in Q4FY23, way below 8.2% during a similar period last year, according to the periodic labour force survey released by the government on Monday.
Urban unemployment was nearly half from 12.6% witnessed during April-June 2021 when the Delta wave of Covid hit the country.
Unemployment rate had peaked at 20.8% in Q1 FY20, owing to the lockdowns announced by the government during Covid.
Separate data released by the government showed that formal employment had jumped to the highest levels since 2017-18, as both the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation witnessed a surge in net additions.
As per the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), job creation was marginal during this period.
Male-female divide
The decline in male unemployment was much higher than female unemployment. Even as female labour force participation improved to 22.7% in Q4 from 22.3% in the previous quarter, the unemployment rate remained higher than 9%.
While male unemployment declined to 6% in Q4 from 6.5% in the previous quarter, female unemployment came down to 9.2% from 9.6% in October-December period.
There was further deterioration in the nature of work for women. The proportion of women in the self-employed category, which also includes unpaid helpers in household enterprises, increased to 38.5% from 37.9% in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, their ratio as regular wage/salaried workers declined to 54.2% from 54.5% earlier. The number of men in regular wage/salaried workers increased to 47.3% from 46.9% during this period.
State-wise comparison
Among the major states Chhattisgarh had the highest female labour force participation rate at 31.5%, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu at 30.5% and 27.4%, respectively. Uttar Pradesh was her worst performer with a FLFPR of 13.3%.
Overall, unemployment rate was the highest in Chhattisgarh at 12.5% rising from 10.6% in the previous quarter, followed by Rajasthan at 11.9%.
It was lowest for Delhi at 3.1%, followed by West Bengal at 4.2% and Karnataka at 5.1%.
Elections are due in both Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan by the end of this year.
The quarterly survey calculates labour force participation based on current weekly status.
“Labour force according to current weekly status (CWS) is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week of 7 days preceding the date of survey,” the report stated.
The government collected samples from nearly 1.73 lakh persons from 44,982 households during this period.