Youth unemployment hits 14.8% in February, four-month high
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New Delhi: The unemployment rate among youth aged 15–29 rose to a four-month high of 14.8 per cent in February, up from 14.7 per cent in January, driven largely by increased joblessness among young men, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday (March 16).
The unemployment rate for young women stood higher at 17.6 per cent in February. Among young men, the rate edged up to 13.7 per cent from 13.6 per cent in the previous month.
In rural areas, youth unemployment also reached a four-month high of 13.1 per cent in February. However, in urban areas, it declined slightly to 18.3 per cent from 18.6 per cent in January.
At the overall level, the unemployment rate eased marginally to 4.9 per cent in February from 5 per cent in January, mainly due to a notable decline in female unemployment. The female jobless rate dropped to 5.1 per cent from 5.6 per cent, while the rate among men remained unchanged at 4.8 per cent.
Urban unemployment, measured in Current Weekly Status terms, fell to 6.6 per cent in February from 7 per cent in January, whereas the rural unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2 per cent. The Current Weekly Status method tracks employment or job-seeking activity during the seven days preceding the survey and classifies a person as unemployed if they did not work even for one hour on any day of the reference week but were seeking or available for work.
The overall Labour Force Participation Rate for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 55.9 per cent in February, unchanged from January. In rural areas, the participation rate was 58.7 per cent, while in urban areas it rose marginally to 50.4 per cent from 50.3 per cent.
Among youth, however, the Labour Force Participation Rate declined to 42.1 per cent from 42.3 per cent in January. The rate among young men slipped to 61.2 per cent from 61.3 per cent, while among young women it fell to 23.1 per cent from 23.2 per cent.
The Worker Population Ratio, which indicates the proportion of employed persons, increased slightly to 53.2 per cent in February from 53.1 per cent in January. Among men, the ratio declined to 73.8 per cent, while among women it rose to 33.4 per cent.
In rural areas, female Worker Population Ratio improved to 38.4 per cent from 38 per cent, while the male ratio fell to 75.4 per cent from 75.7 per cent. In urban areas, the female ratio increased marginally to 33.2 per cent from 33.1 per cent, while the male ratio dipped to 73.8 per cent from 73.9 per cent.
The survey covered a total of 3,74,879 individuals, including 2,13,679 in rural areas and 1,61,200 in urban areas.