Joblessness up 6% in 2017-18, spike in both rural, urban

The unemployment rate stood at 7.8 per cent in urban areas as compared with 5.3 per cent in rural areas, while the labour force participation rate, which is the proportion of population working or seeking jobs, declined to 36.9 per cent in 2017-18 from 39.5 per cent in 2011-12, the report said. The country’s unemployment rate surged to over 6 per cent in 2017-18, the highest since 1972-73.

The findings of the PLFS survey were first reported by Business Standard on Thursday. The rate of joblessness among rural males in the age group 15-29 jumped more than three times to 17.4 per cent in 2017-18 compared to 5 per cent in 2011-12, while the unemployment rate of rural females in the same age bracket stood at 13.6 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent during the same time period.