Unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas decreased to 6.6 per cent during April-June period of 2023 from 7.6 per cent in the same months of the previous year, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on Monday.
“For male, it decreased from 7.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent during this period and for female, it decreased from 9.5 per cent to 9.1 per cent during this period,” Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said in an official statement.
Key labour market indicators in urban areas showed improvement compared to the pre-pandemic period. Unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above ranged from 7.8 per cent to 9.7 per cent during the pre-pandemic period.
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons of age 15 years and above in urban areas increased from 47.5 per cent in April-June 2022 to 48.8 per cent in April-June 2023 for persons of age 15 years in above. While it hovered around 73.5 per cent for male during this period, for females, LFPR increased from 20.9 per cent to 23.2 per cent during this period.
LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
Increasing trend was also witnessed in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above.
The WPR in urban areas increased from 43.9 per cent in April-June 2022 to 45.5 per cent in April-June 2023 for persons of age 15 years in above. For male, it increased from 68.3 per cent to 69.2 per cent during this period and for female, it increased from 18.9 per cent to 21.1 per cent during this period.
The WPR refers to the percentage of employed persons in the population.
