Nothing seems to be able to break the climb of the Indian unemployment rate, which has been increasing since hitting a low of 3.4 percent in July 2017. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, it reached 8.5 percent overall (average of rural and urban rates) in October, the highest in more than three years.
The Indian government has been accused of trying to sweep these negative economic developments under the carpet. In January, The Business Standard published a leaked report that put the annual unemployment rate for 2017 at 6.1 percent. In the past week, another shelved and then leaked report attested that consumer spending was down for the first time in four decades, which is expected to dampen employment prospects further.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday called upon the current government to revive the economy in an op-ed in The Hindu. More troubling statistics concerning the economy have come out of India lately: The GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 slowed to 5.8 percent - the lowest since 2014 - causing the country to lose the title of world's fastest growing economy to China. Second quarter figures are expected to show even slower growth.
