Unemployment rate rises to 8.3% in Dec. highest in 16 months

Unemployment rate rises to 8.3% in Dec. highest in 16 months

• India’s unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in December, the highest in 16 months, from 8% in the previous month, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). 
• The urban unemployment rate rose to 10.09% in December from 8.96% in the previous month, while the rural unemployment rate slipped to 7.44% from 7.55%, the data showed.
• The rise in the unemployment rate was not as bad as it may seem, as it came on top of a healthy increase in the labour participation rate, which shot up to 40.48% in December, the highest in 12 months.
• Most importantly, the employment rate has increased in December to 37.1%, which again is the highest since January 2022.

December GST revenues up from November lows

• India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues rose to ₹1.49 lakh crore in December, the third highest monthly collection so far and 15% higher than a year ago. December’s GST kitty also reflected a 2.5% uptick over November 2022’s collections that were the lowest in three months.
• This is the 10th month in a row that GST collections have crossed the ₹1.4 lakh crore mark, with revenues from import of goods rising 8% and revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) increasing 18% from the revenues yielded by these sources during December 2021.
• The gross GST revenue collected during December 2022, which reflect transactions undertaken in November is ₹1,49,507 crore.
• Of this figure, the Central GST (CGST) is ₹26,711 crore, State GST (SGST) is ₹33,357 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is ₹78,434 crore (including ₹40,263 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is ₹11,005 crore (including ₹850 crore collected on import of goods).