The unemployment rate in urban areas for persons aged above 15 eased to 7.2% in July-September 2022 from 9.8% a year ago and 7.6% in the previous quarter, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday.
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The unemployment rate was 6.6% for men and 9.4% for women. It was 9.3% and 11.6%, respectively, in July-September 2021. The unemployment ratio is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
Also Read | Are the unemployment numbers reliable?
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The worker-population ratio (WPR) also witnessed a marginal increase compared with last year’s. The WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
The WPR in urban areas for persons aged 15 and above stood at 44.5% in July-September 2022, an increase from 42.3% in the corresponding period in 2021. It was 43.9% in April-June 2022. The WPR among men was 68.6% and 19.7% among women. It was 66.6% and 17.6%, respectively, in 2021.
The labour force participation rate (LFPR), defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force who are working or seeking or available for work in the population, in urban areas for persons aged 15 and above, increased to 47.9% in July-September 2022, from 46.9% in the corresponding period in 2021. It was 47.5% in April-June 2022.
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The LFPR among men was 73.4% and 21.7% among women. In 2021, it was 73.5% and 19.9%, respectively. Ashoka University’s
Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) launched on Thursday an initiative to address the country’s plunging women LFPR.
The CEDA said in a release that over the past two decades, the LFPR of women has been steadily declining, despite an increase in their educational attainment.