Employment rate rises 6% provisionally in FY24 from 3.2% in FY23

According to data from the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s employment rate increased by 6% in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, up from a 3.2% growth in 2022-23.

Employment in the country increased by 4.67 crore to 64.33 crore (provisional) in the fiscal year 2023-24, from 59.67 crore in 2022-23, the RBI’s Measuring Productivity at the Industry Level-The India KLEMS [Capital (K), Labour (L), Energy (E), Material (M) and Services (S)] database showed.

In the year ended 2022-23, employment in the country stood at 57.75 crore, compared to 56.56 crore in 2021-22, the RBI data showed.

Employment Database Scope and Content

The database encompasses 27 industries across the entirety of the Indian economy. It provides estimates for broad sectoral levels (agriculture, manufacturing, and services) and nationwide aggregates. Included are metrics such as Gross Value Added (GVA), Gross Value of Output (GVO), Labor Employment (L), Labor Quality (LQ), Capital Stock (K), Capital Composition (KQ), Energy Consumption (E), Material Consumption (M), Service Consumption (S), Labor Productivity (LP), and Total Factor Productivity (TFP).

As per the latest quarterly bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), in May 2024, unemployment rate (UR) in urban areas decreased from 6.8 per cent during January–March 2023 to 6.7 per cent in January–March 2024 for persons of age 15 years and above.

Female unemployment rate declined from 9.2 per cent in January–March 2023 to 8.5 per cent in January–March 2024.

Trends in Urban Labor Participation and Worker Population Ratio (WPR)

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in urban areas has shown an increasing trend from 48.5 per cent in January – March 2023 to 50.2 per cent during January – March 2024 for persons of age 15 years and above, the PLFS data showed.

There was an increasing trend in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above from 45.2 per cent in January – March 2023 to 46.9 per cent in January – March 2024.