India's unemployment hits 4-month low of 5.1% in July
What's the story
India's unemployment rate has dropped to a four-month low of 5.1% in July, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The decline from June's 5.5% is largely due to improvements in rural employment conditions. The unemployment rate had previously risen from 5.1% in March to 5.2% in April, and then further up to 5.5% in May before stabilizing at that level until June this year.
Rural impact
Rural unemployment falls to 4.5%
The drop in the overall unemployment rate was mainly driven by a fall in rural unemployment, which fell to 4.5% in July from 5% in June.
However, urban unemployment rose slightly to 6.7% from 6.6%.
This is still lower than the urban unemployment rate of 7.2% recorded in July last year, indicating an overall improvement.
Participation increase
Overall labour force participation rate rises
The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) also saw a rise, increasing by 1% to 55.4% in July from 54.4% in June.
This comes after a decline between March and May and stagnation in June.
The increase was largely seen in rural India where LFPR increased to 58% from 56.6%.
Urban LFPR also saw a slight rise to 50.4% from 50.1%.
Gender gap
Female LFPR sees major jump
The female LFPR saw a major jump, rising to 34.4% from June's 32.7%.
Rural female participation jumped to 38.8% from 36.6%, while urban female LFPR rose slightly to 25.3% from June's 24.8%.
Compared with July last year, female LFPR is up by a significant margin of 1.1%, led by an impressive rise of nearly 2% in rural areas.
Employment ratio
Worker Population Ratio improves in July
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which indicates the proportion of the population that is employed, also improved in July.
The overall WPR increased to 52.5% from June's 51.4%, marking its first rise since February this year.
Rural WPR rose by a significant margin of 1.6% to 55.4% while urban WPR saw a slight increase to 47% from June's 46.8%.