India's Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.5% in Oct-Dec 2023

New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) India's unemployment rate in urban areas for persons aged 15 years and above decreased during October-December 2023 to 6.5 per cent from 7.2 per cent in the year-ago period, as per government data released on Monday.

Considering the importance of the availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, the NSSO launched the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

"For male, UR (Unemployment Rate) decreased from 6.5 per cent in October-December 2022 to 5.8 per cent in October-December 2023, while for female UR decreased from 9.6 per cent in October-December 2022 to 8.6 per cent in October-December 2023," the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) quarterly bulletin stated.

PLFS further said the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas increased from 44.7 per cent in October-December 2022 to 46.6 per cent in October-December 2023.

For male, it increased from 68.6 per cent to 69.8 per cent during this period and for female, it increased from 20.2 per cent to 22.9 per cent during this period.

Labour Force Participation Rate in urban areas increased from 48.2 per cent in October-December 2022 to 49.9 per cent during the period under review for persons aged 15 years and above.