👍👍👍Employment inches up in urban India | Business Standard Column

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There was a marginal improvement in India’s labour participation rate to 39.92% in February compared to 39.8% in January 2023

There was a marginal impro­vement in India’s labour participation rate to 39.92 per cent in February compared to 39.8 per cent in January. The size of the labour force increased from 440.8 million to 442.9 million. This implies that aro­u­nd 2.1 million additional people wanted to work in February compared to Jan­uary. Of the people who ent­ered the labour force, only around 0.6 million were able to secure employment. The remaining 1.5 million were rendered unemployed. This explains the increase in unemployment rate in February.

The size of the workforce in India expanded from 409.3 million to 409.9 million between January and February. In this period, the working-age popula­tion expanded by a larger num­ber of around 2 million. As a re­sult, the employment rate, which is the percentage of employed persons in the working-age population (15 years and above), did not record any significant change in February as compared to January. It remained at 36.9 per cent.

The labour market metrics for the month of February suggest disparate regional trends. In rural India, unemployment went up as a result of a fall in em­ployment. Fur­thermore, a lar­ge share of people who ent­e­red the rural labour force was unable to find work. On the contrary, employment rose in urban India. This is also accompanied by a considerable fall in the number of persons in the unemployed pool in urban India.

It is interesting that the difference in un­employment rates of rural and urban India has been declining in the past three months. In December 2022, unemployment rate in ur­ban India was 2.65 percentage points higher than in rural India. This difference fell to 2.07 percentage points in January 2023, and further to 0.7 percentage points in February. However, the unemployment rate continues to be higher in urban than in rural India.

Unemployment rate in rural India climbed from 6.48 per cent in January to 7.23 per cent in February, a 0.75 percentage points increase. The number of unemployed persons in rural India increased by around 2.3 million. This comes as a surprise because rural unemp­l­o­yment was on a downward trajectory in the preceding four months. Bet­ween Jan­u­ary and February, the rural labour participa­tion rate remained almost unchanged at around 40.9 per cent. There was, however, a marginal increase in the size of the labour force. The labour force in rural India exp­a­n­ded from 299.8 million in Jan­uary to 300 million in February.

While around 0.26 million people were added to the rural labour force in February, a substantial number lost employment. To be sure, the labour force comprises both unemployed and employed persons. The number of unemployed persons in the rural labour force increased by 2.28 million. Around 2.02 million fewer people were in the workforce in rural India in February compared to January. This fall in employment was also evident in the decline in rural employment rate from 38.3 per cent in January to 37.96 per cent in February.

In urban India, the fall in unemployment rate and corresponding rise in employment rate is promising. The urban unempl­oyment rate fell from 8.55 per cent in Jan­u­ary to 7.93 per cent in February. This transla­tes to a fall in the number of unemployed by around 0.73 million. In effect, the unemployed pool in the urban labour force comprised 11.3 million people in February. In the same period, the labour participation rate in urban India inched up to about 38 per cent from 37.5 per cent. Around 1.9 million people entered the urban labour force in February.

Urban employment rate was 34.33 per cent in January. It increased by 0.63 percentage points, to 34.96 per cent in February. This is the highest employment rate recorded in urban India since September 2020. The urban workforce expanded by 2.6 million in February, resulting in close to 131.5 million employed persons in the labour force. This is a significant rise in the share of employed in the working-age population in urban India. The employment data for February reveal that it is the urban males who are enjoying employment gains. The male employment rate in urban India rose by 1.46 percentage points, from 58.7 per cent in January to 60.17 per cent in February. The female employment rate, on the other hand, declined marginally from 6.36 per cent to 6.28 per cent in the same period.

The overall rise in unemployment in India in the month of February was concentrated in rural India. The rural labour force expanded by a mere 0.26 million and around 2.3 million people became unemployed in February. Conversely, urban India fared well in terms of employment. Around 2.6 million people were added to the urban workforce suggesting that people in urban India who wanted to work were able to secure employment.

The writer is MD & CEO, CMIE P Ltd