Unemployment rate

A commentary in Fortune said that the world is witnessing the beginning of increasing unemployment in the financial sector and high-tech, which "benefitted from the US Federal Reserve's easy money policies since the Great Recession of 2008" In an effort to cool off the economy and get inflation to its target rate, the Federal Reserve began to increase the Fed funds rate rapidly throughout 2022.

The decision was taken by EPFO's board of trustees. Last year, EPFO had declared 8.1 per cent as the rate of interest for 2021-22, which was the lowest in 40 years. The last time the interest rate had slipped to 8 per cent was in 1977-78. Subsequent to the CBT decision, the interest rate on EPF deposits for 2022-23 will be sent for the finance ministry's approval.

According to layoff aggregator layoffs.fyi, more than 15,000 tech workers have lost their jobs this month, reports TechCrunch. Since March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic started, 1.25 lakh employees have been laid off by around 718 startups globally. Tech companies are facing multiple issues like rising inflation, recession fear, Russia-Ukraine war.

The re-opening of brick-and-mortar stores have resulted in a sharp rise in the retail job market. Easing of Covid-19 curbs have resulted in consumers frequenting recreational centres such as malls, creating a demand for retail talent following improvement in supply chain disruptions and global mobility resuming, growth has been witnessed in import and export (up 29 per cent) and travel and tourism (up 15 per cent) sectors as well.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the month-on-month comparison of payroll data reflects a slight increase of 31,826 net subscribers in February compared to the previous month. On a year-on-year comparison, February 2022 saw an increase of 1,74,314 as compared to the net subscriber addition in corresponding month of 2021. There is consistent increase in the net subscriber addition since October 2021, showcasing trust in the services rendered by the organisation.

In the week ending April 2, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 5,000 from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 171,000, according to a report released on Thursday by the Department's Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). Companies are struggling to hire as labour market supply cannot meet demand. The number of job openings was little changed at 11.3 million by end of February, the BLS reported last week.

Out of the 21 sectors reviewed in the country, 16 indicated keenness to hire. The IT sector (95 per cent of the employers keen to hire) was followed by educational services (86 per cent), e-commerce and technology startups (81 per cent), and healthcare and pharmaceuticals (78 per cent), according to people supply chain company TeamLease Services.