India’s unemployment rate rose to 7.83 per cent in April from 7.60 per cent in March, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed on Sunday. Data show that the urban unemployment rate rose to 9.22 per cent in April from 8.28 per cent in the previous month, while the rural unemployment rate fell from 7.29 per cent to 7.18 per cent.

The northern state of Haryana has the highest unemployment rate at 34.5 per cent, followed by Rajasthan at 28.8 per cent. Economists say the recovery has been slow due to weak domestic demand and rising prices, hurting employment.

Retail inflation rose to a 17-month high of 6.95 per cent in March and could peak at around 7.5 per cent later this year, Capital Economics economist Shilan Shah said in a report on Saturday. Economists and policymakers watch the Mumbai CMIE figures closely as the government does not publish its monthly figures.

They have also been watching the decline in the labour force participation rate or the percentage of the workforce employed or looking for work. That share slipped to 39.5 per cent in March 2022 from 43.7 per cent in March 2019, as millions lost their jobs during the pandemic, according to earlier data from the CMIE.