Unemployment rate surges to 8.3% in December: CMIE

Mumbai, January 2

Unemployment rate in the country has zoomed to a high of 8.3% in December, the highest in 2022, according to data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The unemployment rate during November was at 8%, while in September it was the lowest at 6.43% and was at the second highest level during the year at 8.28% in August, the CMIE data stated.

While the urban unemployment rate was at 10% during the last month of 2022, rural joblessness stood at 7.5% during December.

Among the states, unemployment continued to be the highest in Haryana at 37.4% in December, followed by Rajasthan at 28.5%, Delhi 20.8%, Bihar 19.1% and Jharkhand 18%.

Analysing the data, TeamLease Services co-founder and executive vice-president Rituparna Chakraborty said CMIE Unemployment report at the face of it is an interesting bouquet of bad news and good news.

“One of the alarming possibilities for India given the leading indicators of birth rate and death rate and economic prosperity is the fact that our additions to the labour workforce are likely to slow down like it has happened in China or in Europe and other developed economies,” she said.

The so-called demographic dividend could possibly reach the end of the dividend runaway in the near future and hence unemployment going up in the short-run on account of increased labour workforce participation cannot be such a bad thing after all, Chakraborty noted. — PTI

Statistics at a glance

• While the urban unemployment rate was at 10% during the last month of 2022, rural joblessness stood at 7.5% during December
• Among the states, unemployment continued to be the highest in Haryana at 37.4% in December, followed by Rajasthan at 28.5%, Delhi 20.8%, Bihar 19.1% and Jharkhand 18%