The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has reported that the unemployment rate in India rose to 7.91 per cent in December 2021 from 7 per cent in the previous month. The data, released on January 1, revealed that this is the highest level of unemployment rate in India in four months. The last time the unemployment rate was higher than this was in August 2021, when the jobless rate stood at 8.3 per cent.

Unemployment rose in both urban as well as rural areas. However, urban unemployment remained at a higher level than the rural areas. Unemployment in urban areas rose to 9.3 per cent in December from 8.21 per cent in November 2021. On the other hand, the rural unemployment rate rose to 7.28 per cent in December from 6.44 per cent in the previous month. 

Under the current BJP administration at the centre, the unemployment rate hit an all-time high since 1972-73 in 2019, when it was recorded at 6.1 per cent. In the first pandemic year of 2020, it was recorded at 10.3% between October-December of that year.