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Economic research think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has estimated that labour participation rate (LPR) was higher in rural India during the period January to April 2022. LPR, defined as the number of persons of the labour force employed as a percentage of working age population, is 40.9 in rural India as compared to 37.4 in urban India during the period January to April 2022.

According to CMIE, the percentage of LPR among urban male is much higher at 64.2 per cent as against 6.7 per cent among urban female. During the period unemployment rate in India was 7.43 per cent, with 7.8 per cent in urban India and 7.2 per cent in rural areas.  It also noted that state-wise LPR is the highest in Meghalaya at 60.1 per cent, followed by 52.5 per cent in Tripura and the least in Uttarakhand at 30.9 per cent. LPR in West Bengal during the period stood at 44.6 per cent, almost at par with Assam at 44.5 per cent.

CMIE said that a society where a large proportion of the adult population join the labour force and are mostly gainfully employed, is one which is free from economic vulnerability. Such a society automatically motivates households to spend more to improve the quality of life and in the process it propels economic growth and more employment. It also said that an increase in unemployment reduces aggregate spending power, slows down economic growth and enhances the economic vulnerability of the households to deal with economic shocks.