NEW DELHI : At least 867,964 new people joined the formal workforce in November 2019, an improvement from the month before, the government payroll data released Tuesday claimed.

The number was better than October when 686,158 people joined the formal work but less than any other months in the current financial year.

As per payroll data extrapolated from the number of new subscribers in Employees Provident fund Organization (EPFO), while in September the numbers of new payroll addition were 906,689, in August it was 978,883. In July it was 1.2 million, and in June it was 1.18 million, in May it was 1.01 million and in April it stood at 1.06 million.

In November, of the total new payroll additions, some 462,550 were in the 18-25 age group, almost 100,000 more than whet was reported in October. The 18-25 age group assumes importance as they are generally considered as the fresh job seekers in the labour market.

Of the total EPFO payroll additions in November 2019, while 246,348 are people are in the 26-35 age group, 151,907 are above 35 years of age. To be sure, payroll data of most recent months may get slightly revised due to data collection and tabulation delays in some sectors.

High unemployment rate has been the talking point in India in recent times and several government and provate employment surveys showing slowing down of employment generation. The impact of the slowdown has been accentuated by the absence of jobs and people hope that the budget will ease this pain point. The economy is going through a tough time with gross domestic product (GDP) growth sliding to 4.5% in the September quarter, the lowest since March 2013. Retail inflation has shot up to a five-and-a-half-year high of 7.35% in December. The recovery of industrial production after three months of contraction to expand by 1.8% in November also did not generate much enthusiasm among economists terming it as a weak recovery on a weak base.

The 2017-18 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) published last year showed that India’s unemployment rtate was 6% , a four decade high. The same survey also showed that youth unemployment is a bigger crisis The unemployment rate among males in the 15-29 age group was 18.7% and for females it was 27.2%, according to the PLFS findings. The Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy figures show that the urban unemployment rate in December was 9.02%, compared to 6.93% in rural areas.

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