India’s monthly unemployment rate held steady in October as labour markets showed momentum to match the increased workforce during the month, the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) monthly bulletin released on Monday showed.
Data by the National Statistics Office (NSO) pegged the unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above in the current weekly status (CWS) terms at 5.2 per cent in October — unchanged from the previous month — led by robustness in the rural job market.
The jobless rate in rural areas fell to 4.4 per cent from 4.6 per cent during this period. However, labour markets in urban areas faced strain as the unemployment rate rose to its highest in three months at 7 per cent from 6.8 per cent in September. In CWS, the activity status is determined on the reference period over the past seven days preceding the date of the survey. Under this, a person is considered unemployed in a week if they did not work even for one hour on any day during the reference week but sought or were available for work for at least one hour on any day during the reference week.
The data further showed that while the unemployment rate among men remained steady at 5.1 per cent, it registered a decline for women (5.4 per cent) from 5.5 per cent in the previous month.
October Job Market Shows No Shift, PLFS Finds
