by Pankaj Yadav

NEW DELHI, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- About 10 million new jobs were created in India in September, bringing down the unemployment rate from 8.3 percent in August to 6.4 percent, according to the latest data released earlier this month by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent think-tank.

Over three-fourths of the new jobs were in rural areas during the month.

The CMIE said September's jobs data was primarily due to a marked improvement in labor market conditions across rural and urban regions. "Rural India made the bigger contribution to the overall turnaround," it said.

Explaining the rising employment trend in the country, CMIE Managing Director Mahesh Vyas said that more labor participation led to a growth in employment opportunities in the country.

The labor participation rate inched up from 39.24 percent in August to 39.32 percent in September, and along with a simultaneous fall in the unemployment rate, the employment rate rose from 35.99 percent in August to 36.79 percent in September, Vyas said.

Labor market conditions in rural India have recovered in each month since June, and the performance in September indicates a continuation of that process, Vyas said.

Most rural jobs were created in the construction and manufacturing sectors while mining and utilities also added to employment generation, Vyas said, adding that the quality of employment in the hinterlands also improved in September.

Urban employment in the services sector increased by nearly 3 million, such as in the travel and tourism sector and education. More drivers were hired and new cabs were bought by those in the travel business.

According to the Federation of Automobiles Dealers Association, the overall sales of vehicles in the country increased by a massive 57 percent during the Hindu festival Navaratri, or nine nights, as compared to the same period last year.

While the sales of commercial vehicles rose by 70 percent, passenger vehicles' sales saw a rise of around 58 percent.

Anil Hada, who has a fleet of over 15 cabs in Gurugram, a city adjacent to New Delhi, said he bought five new cars and hired five new drivers between August and September.

"After two years of COVID-19, my business has begun picking up once again. There is an increase in demand for cabs from the corporate world. On average, every tour and travel operator in Gurugram has bought at least two new cabs over the past couple of months. There are nearly 4,000 cab operators in this city," Hada said.

According to him, the rise in demand for cabs is mainly from the manufacturing and services sectors, which is over and above the demand from individuals or families for domestic tourism during vacations, holidays or weekends.

Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted by global company ManpowerGroup found that India's job market outlook looked "strong" for October-December as 54 percent of companies plan to hire more employees.

Reacting to the findings, ManpowerGroup India's Managing Director Sandeep Gulati said, "India's deep-rooted fundamentals are healthy and robust. Despite the short-term setbacks, growth-enhancing policies, increased investment in infrastructure, rising exports, etc will nullify the impact in the mid and long-term."

He, however, cautioned that universities and educational institutes need to realign their curriculum to the needs of the job market thereby providing increased employable youths to corporate India. Enditem

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