India’s urban unemployment fell to 6.6% in April-June, but females see rise in low-quality jobs

The government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey is the only official jobs data published in India.

India's urban unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023-24 from 6.8 percent in January-March, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on October 9.

At 6.6 percent, the rate of unemployment in Indian cities is the lowest ever recorded by the government's Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) since it was started in 2018-19. The survey, published on a quarterly basis for urban data, measures the unemployment rate in terms of Current Weekly Status (CWS). As per this definition, a person is considered employed if they worked for at least one hour on any day during the seven days preceding the day they are surveyed.

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"Unemployment Rate for persons of age 15 years and above in CWS ranged from 7.8 percent to 9.7 percent during the pre-pandemic period. Unemployment Rate during April-June 2023 was 6.6 percent which is lower than the unemployment rates observed in the quarters covered in the pre-pandemic period," the statistics ministry said.

In April-June, India's urban unemployment rate fell even as the Labour Force Participation Rate increased to 48.8 percent from 48.5 percent the previous quarter. While the male Labour Force Participation Rate was unchanged at 73.5 percent in April-June, that for females rose by 50 basis points to 23.2 percent.

One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

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Even though the female Labour Force Participation Rate rose and that for males did not, the unemployment rate for males and females fell by 10 basis points each to 5.9 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.

Low quality female jobs

While the unemployment and Labour Force Participation rates for females improved in April-June, the type of jobs they took on posed worrying questions about the country's job situation.

In April-June, the percentage of females employed in casual labour fell to 6.8 percent from 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023. However, at the same time, the same figure for females with salaried jobs declined by 20 basis points to 54.0 percent.

Meanwhile, the percentage of males with salaried jobs rose by 50 basis points to 47.8 percent.

Further, the share of self-employed females rose by 70 basis points to 39.2 percent, with the fraction working as unpaid helper in household enterprises up to 11.9 percent from 11.7 percent in January-March.

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Worryingly, the latest PLFS numbers continued a trend visible for some time now, with the percentage of females in salaried jobs having stood at 55.8 percent in April-June 2022.