India’s unemployment rate drops to 3.1% in 2023: Report

The Capgemini Research Institute’s ‘World Wealth Report 2024’ on Thursday, June 6th, 2024, addressed that India’s unemployment rate decreased to 3.1 percent in 2023, down from 7 percent in 2022, amid robust government policies.

The national savings of the nation as a proportion of GDP grew from 29.9% in 2022 to 33.4% in 2023. The report states that the number of high net worth people (HNWI) in the nation rose by 12.2 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 3.589 million. From $1,286.7 billion in 2022 to $1,445.7 billion in 2023, the nation’s HNWI wealth climbed by 12.4%.

With HNWI wealth growth of 12.4% and 7.9% and HNWI population growth of 12.2% and 7.8%, respectively, India and Australia emerged as the top achievers in the Asia-Pacific area.

“India’s economy expanded at its swiftest rate in the last six quarters, propelled by robust private consumption as well as positive trends in manufacturing and construction activities,” the report mentioned.

The results demonstrated that strong equities market performance and a sturdy economy were the main drivers of wealth increase in each of these nations. After rising by 6% in 2022, the nation’s market capitalization climbed by 29% the previous year. In 2023, the unemployment rate in rural and urban regions decreased to 2.4% and 5.2%, respectively, from 2.8% and 5.9% in 2022 during the calendar year 2023 (CY23). In 2023, women’s unemployment (1.9%) was lower than men’s unemployment (2.7%) in rural regions, while women’s unemployment (7.5%) was greater than men’s (4.4%) in urban areas.

For the second year in a row, the unemployment rate for those aged 15 and over under the so-called “usual status” during the one year indicates a drop. This decline began in 2021, the year the NSO report began collecting data on an annual basis. The NSO typically gathers information on employment and unemployment status in the nation between July and June for its yearly Periodic Labour Force Survey.

This tendency is being further amplified by factors such as growing demand for power and autos, robust banking systems, credit expansion, and renewed capital investment leading to productivity gains from digitalization. According to the research, foreign portfolio investment (FPI) flows saw a notable turnaround in 2023–24, with net FPI inflows of $24.9 billion (as of December 6) compared to net outflows in the two years prior.

As the samples of first-stage units canvassed during the period of July of one year to June of the following are independently drawn for each quarter before the survey commences, the labor force indicators for a calendar year have been obtained in the most recent NSO report by combining the data of four quarters of the calendar year.

The most recent poll also revealed that the labor force participation rate (LFPR), which measures the proportion of the population that is either employed or actively looking for work, dramatically climbed to 59.8% in 2023 from 56.1% in 2022 at the national level.

The rural LFPR increased dramatically from 58.5 percent in 2022 to 63.4 percent in 2023, whereas the urban counterpart increased from 50% to 51.4 percent over the same period. Additionally, the data reveals that in 2023, the proportion of women to men employed as lawmakers, senior officials, and managers was 14.4%, while the proportion of women to men employed as professionals and technical workers was 49.43% during the same year.

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