Unemployment rate was at four-year high during the time of demonetisation in 2016-17, a Labour Bureau report, accessed by Business Standard has revealed.
According to the Bureau’s Sixth Annual Employment Survey, the employment rate stood at 3.9 percent in 2016-17, compared to 3.7 percent in 2015-16 and 3.4 percent in 2013-14. The unemployment rate refers to the proportion of labour force available for work but unable to get a job.
The report also added that the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), which refers to the working age population working or seeking jobs, went up to 76.8 percent from 2016-17 from 75.5 percent from 2015-16.
According to The Economic Times, US-based National Bureau of Economic Research in December 2018 said that demonetisation hit India’s economic activity in the period following the 8 November, 2016, (the day demonetisation was announced), but the impact had dissipated by the summer of 2017.
“Our results imply demonetisation lowered the growth rate of economic activity by at least 2 percentage points in the quarter of demonetisation," said the working paper entitled Cash and the Economy: Evidence from India’s Demonetisation, as quoted by ET.
The paper also said that India’s economic activity declined 3 percentage points or more in November and December 2016 even though its effects were dispelled over the next few months.
(With inputs from Business Standard and The Economic Times)
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