Urban Unemployment Increases Sharply to 9.7% in January 2020: CMIE

Urban unemployment rose to 9.7%, a sharp increase from the 9% in December 2019, according to data released by CMIE.

In January 2020, the unemployment rate in India was 7.16%, a decline from the 7.6% mark recorded in December 2019, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

However, urban unemployment rose to 9.7%, a sharp increase from the 9% recorded in December 2019. The average overall monthly unemployment rate over the 12 months ending January 2020 stands at 7.4 percent.

Mahesh Vyas, CEO of CMIE, elaborated on the findings in his Business Standard column, “The unemployment rate did cross 8 percent in August and October 2019. But, it has been distinctly lower than that since October. The rate seems to have slipped down decisively below 8 percent but it remains distinctly higher than 7 percent. Evidently, although the unemployment (rate over a 12-month period) is quite high at about 7.4%, it has stopped rising as it has been since mid-2017. The new phenomenon is a substantial increase in the month-on-month variations in the unemployment rate.”

Key Takeaways

• The rural unemployment rate fell sharply from 8% in October 2019 to 6.9% in December 2019, and further to 6% in January 2020.
  
• At 9.7%, the urban unemployment rate in January almost matches its recent peak of 9.71% in August 2019.
  
• There has been an increase in monthly variations in the unemployment rates, as well as an increase in the gap between rural and urban unemployment rates.