# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reuters New Delhi Last Updated: May 8, 2019 | 13:35 IST

India's unemployment rate in April rose to 7.6 percent, the highest since October 2016, and up from 6.71 percent in March, according to data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) released late on Wednesday.

"The lower unemployment rate in March was a blip, and it has again climbed following the trend of earlier months," Mahesh Vyas, head of the Mumbai-based CMIE think-tank, told Reuters.

The figures could be a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a staggered general election that will end on May 19, with opposition parties criticising the government over weak farm prices and low jobs growth.

Factory activity expanded at its slowest pace in eight months in April as growth in new orders and output dipped as the general election got under way, a separate private business survey found.

Optimism among manufacturing firms also ebbed in April as they remain concerned about what policies a new government will adopt when it takes office by the end of May.

The government recently withheld jobs data because officials said they needed to check its veracity.

India usually only releases official unemployment data every five years.

But December unemployment figures were leaked to a newspaper and showed that the jobless rate rose to its highest level in at least 45 years in 2017/18.

The government has said it will release jobs data once a year.

The CMIE said in a report released in January that nearly 11 million people lost their jobs in 2018 after the demonetisation of high-value banknotes in late 2016, and the chaotic launch of a new goods and services tax in 2017, hit millions of small businesses.

The government told parliament this year that it did not have data on the impact of demonetisation on jobs in small businesses.
Also read: Jobs in corporate sector on a decline: CMIE Also read: Unemployment rate fell to 6.7% in March but urban employment shrank: CMIE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Slowdown Blues: India's unemployment rate in April rises to 7.6%, says CMIE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The CMIE said in a report released in January that nearly 11 million people lost their jobs in 2018 after the demonetisation of high-value banknotes in late 2016, and the chaotic launch of a new goods and services tax in 2017, hit millions of small busine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 2020s are set to be the Asian decade, with the continent dominating an exclusive list of economies expected to sustain growth rates of around 7 per cent.

India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines should all meet that benchmark, according to a research note Sunday from Madhur Jha, Standard Chartered's India-based head of thematic research, and Global Chief Economist David Mann. Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire are also likely to reach the 7 per cent growth pace, which typically means a doubling of gross domestic product every 10 years. That'll be a boon to per-capita incomes, with Vietnam's soaring to $10,400 in 2030 from about $2,500 last year, they estimate.

The South Asian members of the group should be GDP standouts as they'll together account for about one-fifth of the world's population by 2030, Standard Chartered reckons. The demographic dividend will be a boon for India, while Bangladesh's investments in health and education should juice productivity.

The Asian dominance of the list is a change from 2010, when the bank first started tracking the economies it expected to grow by around 7 per cent. Back then, there were 10 members evenly split between Asia and Africa: China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique.

China is a notable absence from the latest ranking after being a member of the club for almost four decades -- reflecting both a slowdown in economic growth and a progression toward higher per-capita incomes that makes faster growth rates more difficult to sustain. Standard Chartered estimates the world's No. 2 economy will keep up a 5.5 per cent economic growth pace in the 2020s.

ALSO READ: Indian firms are most optimistic about trade, economic growth: Stuart Tait

Sub-Saharan African countries also have faded, which the analysts attribute to "waning reform momentum, despite a slowdown in commodity prices."

While faster economic growth isn't a panacea -- think income inequality, crime, pollution -- it tends to come with a lot of positive knock-on effects, Jha and Mann wrote.

"Faster growth not only helps to lift people more quickly out of absolute poverty, but is also usually accompanied by better health and education, as well as a wider range of -- and better access to -- goods and services," they say in the report. "Higher incomes resulting from faster growth also usually reduce socio-political instability and make it easier to introduce structural reforms, creating a virtuous cycle."

In addition, 7 per cent club members tend to have savings and investment rates of at least 20-25 per cent of GDP, according to the report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
India among Asian economies set to dominate 7% growth club during 2020s

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read more about India among Asian economies set to dominate 7% growth club during 2020s on Business Standard. China is a notable absence from the latest ranking after being a member of the club for almost four decades -- reflecting a slowdown in economic growth

# data[].attributes.body
The official unemployment rate for India in April 2019 rose by 0.89% from March 2019; this shows the non-availability of jobs for people who are willing and able to work in India. However, the unemployment figure in India is most likely overstated, due to a large number of people who claim to be unemployed are engaged in illegal activities.  In a report from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), it said that said the shadow economy in India currently represents 17.22 per cent of GDP, totalling about Rs 26,15,800 crore in 2016. Indian 'shadow economy' to shrink to 13.6 per cent of GDP by 2025: ACCA. (2017, July 02). Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indian-shadow-economy-to-shrink-to-13-6-per-cent-of-gdp-by-2025-acca/articleshow/59410776.cms.

This is especially true in a mixed developing economy, as people with competing skillsets struggle to find jobs, as there is a lot of structural unemployment; thus, people resort to illegal activity to find income.

Long term, the government needs to spend in re-education for the older generation to adapt to the current job market, while in the short term, the government can increase infrastructure spending to increase available jobs in the construction industry. The government has already put in place a social security scheme called the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. It guarantees 100 days in a year of unskilled manual work to rural households in India. This is a short term solution, as only ensures employment for a part of the year, it is not full-time employment, once the contract is up, the workers are left jobless again. The government also has an employment exchange, where unemployed educated youths can register for job vacancies in their respective states. This is also a short term solution to unemployment, as it aims to remove frictional unemployment. Overall, the Indian government has not done much to combat structural unemployment, with a large number of highly educated Indians holding degrees, but no jobs available to match their capabilities, this creates a long term problem which the Indian government is grappling to solve.

# data[].attributes.body
Inflation is a sustained and continuous increase in the general level of prices of goods and services in the economy .India retail inflation rate rose at a five month-high of 2.86% in March 2019 from 2.57% in February 2019, it exceeded the market expectation of 2.8% . There is an increase of 0.29% in the retail inflation rate in India. Inflation rate of India averaged 6.18% from 2012 to 2019. The consumer price index increases by 0.36% in March 2019 after a 0.2% gain in February. Cost- push inflation causes the inflation in India to rise because there is an increase in the price of crude oil as such it increases the cost of production. India is the most vulnerable to rising energy costs as it imports more than 80% of its oil requirements. A surge in the oil prices threatens to stoke inflation, derail earnings growth of companies and hurt India's economy in a long run. With Brent crude oil at a six- month high, it poses a clear risk to India's economy health. Hence, cost- push inflation occurs as there is a shortage of resources to produce goods and services and the general price level of the economy increases by the pressure on the cost of production.This means that there is a decrease in the purchasing power of the Indian citizens because the citizens have the same amount of income throughout the years yet the inflation rate of India also increases throughout the years. Due to increased in inflation, the real income of the citizens decreases as the consumer price index increases such as the increase in price of the basket of basic necessities that contains food, housing, clothing and footwear, medication and education. Thus, there is a decrease in purchasing power of the citizens.

# data[].attributes.headline
GDP Article Preliminary Analysis (maisarah, deanne, erra)

# data[].attributes.subject
GDP Article Preliminary Analysis (maisarah, deanne, erra)

# data[].attributes.body
India's GDP will hit the bench mark of 7% growth pace along with other Asian economies in 2020 which mean doubling GDP every 10 years. This means that the country has a much higher rate of production and more goods and services are being produced. Therefore, firms are able to make more profit and from those profit they are financially able to higher more workers and can also afford to pay higher salaries. This will lead to consumers spending more money on goods and services which helps the GDP to grow faster. The South Asian members of the group should be GDP standouts as they’ll together account for about one-fifth of the world’s population by 2030, Standard Chartered reckons. The demographic dividend will benefit India greatly. This shows that as India has many citizens compared to most countries, they will have more manpower and are able to produce more goods and services at a faster pace hence will bring about a higher GDP. Other factors that contribute to India's growth include a steadily-increasing population of working adults, ease of doing business as well as the presence of a lot of English speakers. India has one of the largest working populations in the world, especially the younger working adults (those under the age of 35), thus its labour force is very strong. This results in high productivity, which leads to economic growth. The ease of doing business and presence of many English speakers has attracted many foreign investors to India to conduct business. This has also allowed India to have import and export deals with many other countries. This therefore contributes to the economy and its growth.

# data[].attributes.body
Namaste Team India!
Thanks for sharing your padlet with me. Your article choices restricted your capacity to conduct first stage analysis. That choice from trading economics, like I've cautioned you in lecture and tutorial, it is not news article. The other article chosen for your GDP analysis is too brief. This could be the reason why I don't see much analysis here. Let me try to give you some feedback/question for thought for your to expand your points in padlet (if you like) and address some of them in your report (with further research).

Here goes:
GDP
You explained how this "The demographic dividend will be a boon for India"  would lead to economic growth from the resource perspective. Good! Do explore further how increase in population size increase real GDP. Hint: GDP expenditure approach

Go beyond this article in your report, to include other factors that contributes to India's growth.

Unemployment
The point about unemployment rate being understated due to the huge black market in India needs to be supported with evidence.

The suggestion made by team in terms of education investment by the government would be more sound by finding out how much the government has done (policies implemented so far, name a few) and then conclude if these are adequate or should government still do more.

Inflation
Purchasing power falls if consumers experienced increase in inflation rate with no change in their income. Please check understanding before CT.

That source only reports data so please find out what caused inflation to rise. Is it demand-pull or cost-push inflation.

Lastly, please include your tutorial class when you submit your hard copy.  Once you are done with updating your padlet, please print out the hardcopy and pass it to me, either in class or drop it in my pigeon hole at Blk 72, level 9. Please proceed to find MORE resources and work on these prelim thoughts for your report writing. This is it!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In India, the most important category in the consumer price index is Food and beverages (45.86 percent of total weight), of which Cereals and products (9.67 percent), Milk and products (6.61 percent), Vegetables (6.04 percent), Prepared meals, snacks, sweets, etc. (5.55 percent), Meat and fish (3.61 percent), and Oils and fats (3.56 percent). Miscellaneous accounts for 28.32 percent, of which Transport and communication (8.59 percent), health (5.89 percent), and education (4.46 percent). Housing accounts for 10.07 percent; Fuel and light for 6.84 percent; Clothing and footwear for 6.53 percent; and Pan, tobacco and intoxicants for 2.38 percent. Consumer price changes in India can be very volatile due to dependence on energy imports, the uncertain impact of monsoon rains on its large farm sector, difficulties transporting food items to market because of its poor roads and infrastructure and high fiscal deficit. In 2013, the consumer price index replaced the wholesale price index (WPI) as a main measure of inflation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
India Inflation Rate - January 2022 Data - 2012-2021 Historical - February Forecast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Annual inflation rate in India increased to a 7-month high of 6.01% in January of 2022 from an upwardly revised 5.66% in December, and matching market expectations. Food inflation soared for a 4th consecutive month to 5.43%, the highest since October of 2020, with prices of pulses rising 3.02%, vegetables 5.19% and oils and fats 18.7%.