According to the CMIE data, the unemployment rates in urban areas decreased somewhat from 7.7% to 7.20% but sharply climbed in rural India from 5.8% to 8.04%.
According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate in India increased to 7.8% in October 2022 from a four-year low of 6.4% in September (CMIE). As per CNBC, the CMIE data also shows that while the unemployment rate in urban regions increased slightly from 7.7% to 7.20%, it drastically jumped in rural areas from 5.8% to 8.04%, indicating fewer labour participation.
Furthermore, a slight decline in the labour participation rate (LPR), from 39.3% in September to 39% in October, aligned with the increase in the unemployment rate in that month.
A lowering LPR along with a high unemployment rate, in accordance with CMIE, suggests that the employment rate has been declining. The employment rate was 36% in October 2022, with a decrease of 7.8 million total employed people from 404.2 million in September to 396.4 million in that same month.
Additionally, the number of unemployed people increased by 5.6 million, and 2.2 million people left the labour force, causing the country’s labour force to drop from 432 million in September to 429.8 million in October.
However, the decline in employment was entirely concentrated in rural India, primarily in non-agricultural rural India, and the recovery in the agricultural industry was quite modest.
In October 2021 and October 2020, the unemployment rate in rural areas was 7.7% and 7%, respectively. Before the epidemic, in October 2019, it was 8.1%. Haryana recorded the highest unemployment rate (31.8%) in October 2022, followed by Rajasthan (30.7%) and Jammu and Kashmir (both at 30.7%). (22.4 per cent). The states with the lowest rates of unemployment were Madhya Pradesh (0.8%), Chhattisgarh (0.9%), and Odisha (1.1%).
The hiring during the month followed a similar pattern, as indicated by the monthly Naukri Jobspeak index, which indicates that hiring dropped due to the holidays and stayed flat in comparison to the prior year. In 2022, the index reached its lowest level (at 2,455). However, the report shows that it’s still increasing when compared to the holiday window in November of the previous year.
According to Pawan Goyal, the Chief Business Officer of Naukri.com, “The temporary deceleration in hiring activity was expected given the festive season, however, when you compare the data with last year’s festive window (November 2021), the index is a healthy 13% ahead, which is reassuring.”
He said that it is important to note that the majority of major industries continued to expand hiring during this month, and that trend is likely to continue as the year comes to a finish.
In comparison to October of last year, hiring surged in Kolkata and Mumbai while being stable in Delhi. Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Pune, three major centres, saw a decline in hiring as the IT sector stagnated.
The country’s insurance industry has reportedly continued to expand at a staggering rate of 93% due to a rise in demand for experts with all levels of experience, according to a Naukri.com article. Oil, travel and hospitality, banking, real estate, financial services and insurance (BFSI), and vehicles are among sectors that have seen an increase in hiring.
According to the data, there was an 18% decrease in recruitment in the IT sector in October compared to the same period the previous year. In addition to IT, industries including telecom and healthcare experienced a sharp decline in recruitment.
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