The country recorded a significant increase in employment figures for FY24, adding 46.7 million new jobs, bringing the total to 643.3 million. This marks a 6 per cent rise from 596.7 million jobs in FY23. The RBI's announcement on Monday highlighted that this estimate contrasts sharply with numbers reported by private surveys like CMIE, which have indicated high unemployment rates.
The data, part of the RBI's report on 'measuring industry level productivity and employment,' indicates a provisional 6 per cent growth in employment generation for FY24, compared to 3.2 per cent in FY23. These figures are extrapolated from the government's National Accounts and data from the Union Labour Ministry.
In its latest release on Monday, the RBI ventured into a provisional estimate of overall economic productivity for FY24, drawing from officially accessible data. This development coincided closely with a recent report from brokerage Citigroup, which underscored that even with a projected GDP growth of 7 per cent, the annual job creation would likely range only between 8-9 million—a shortfall compared to the 11-12 million jobs required annually for India's sizable youthful population.
According to recent data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate surged to its highest level in eight months, reaching 9.2 per cent in June 2024, up from 7 per cent in May. The organisation had previously estimated India's unemployment rate at 8 per cent for FY24, compared to 7.7 per cent in the previous fiscal year.
In FY24, India achieved an impressive GDP growth rate of 8.2 per cent, surpassing earlier forecasts. Looking ahead, the RBI has projected a GDP growth rate of 7.2 per cent for FY25.
The RBI utilised the government's National Accounts and Ministry of Labour data to project the country's productivity and employment metrics.
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