New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS): India’s unemployment rate in urban areas decreased to 6.5 per cent in October-December 2023 from 7.2 per cent in October-December 2022 for persons aged 15 years and above, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics on Monday.

For men, the unemployment rate decreased to 5.8 per cent in October-December 2023 from 6.5 per cent in October-December 2022, while in the case of women, the unemployment rate decreased to 8.6 per cent from 9.6 per cent during this period.

The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.

The figures are also supported by an increase in the worker population ratio, which shows the percentage of employed persons in the population.

As far as the sample size is concerned, at the all-India level in the urban areas, a total number of 5,697 blocks have been surveyed during the October-December 2023 quarter. The number of urban households surveyed was 44,544 and the number of persons surveyed was 1,69,209 in the urban areas, according to the official statement.