India's unemployment rate falls to 6.57% in Jan, lowest since March 2021: CMIE

India's unemployment rate has fallen to 6.57 per cent in January, reportedly the lowest since March 2021, as the country slowly recovers with the easing of restrictions due to the decrease in Omicron cases in the country, following the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

The CMIE data claimed in January, India's urban unemployment rate was 8.16 per cent while in rural areas rate was 5.84 per cent. In December, the unemployment rate was 7.91 per cent, with urban unemployment at 9.30 per cent and rural unemployment at 7.28 per cent.

States like Telangana in January reported the lowest unemployment rate at 0.7 per cent, followed by Gujarat at 1.2 per cent, Meghalaya at 1.5 per cent, and Odisha at 1.8 per cent. 

Also Read: Goa Election 2022: Arvind Kejriwal promises unemployment allowance of Rs 3000/month, 24 hrs free electricity 

On the other side, Haryana reported the highest unemployment rate at 23.4 per cent, followed by Rajasthan at 18.9 per cent. The CMIE estimated the number of unemployed in the country as of December 2021 at 53 million, a large proportion of women. 

In his research of December data, Mahesh Vyas, the CMIE MD and CEO, claimed 35 million people were actively looking for work in December 2021, of which 23 per cent or 8 million were women. Vyas added an equally important challenge to find work for the additional 17 million unemployed people and would be willing to work if opportunities arose, even if they are not actively looking for a job.

Last year, the reports revealed that around one crore people lost their jobs, and a country-wide survey involving 1.75 lakh people. While in the pandemic, it was revealed that 55 per cent had seen a drop in their incomes, 42 per cent had seen no improvement, and their situation has remained unchanged. 

According to Vyas, 97 per cent of households have seen their incomes fall. The report claimed people in the informal sector might have an easier time finding work. However, professionals may have to wait a little longer. It further added the country experienced an unemployment rate of 23.5 per cent in May 2020, immediately following the national lockdown.

• 2021
• CMIE
• Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy
• India's unemployment rate
• rural unemployment rate
• urban unemployment rate