Demand under rural job scheme drops for 11th straight month

Work demand under the government's flagship rural employment scheme fell for the 11th consecutive month in September from a year before, a decline that experts attributed to the impact of strong economic activities that open up more remunerative job opportunities and to a favourable base effect.

About 18.93 million people sought work in September under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), down 14.2% year-on-year, showed preliminary data compiled by the rural development ministry.

The individuals demanding work came from 16.02 million households, down 13.5% from a year earlier.


In the first half of this financial year, 162.54 million people from 160.18 million households demanded work under the NREGS, down 15.6% and 13.5%, respectively, from a year earlier.

On a month-on-month basis, work demand from individuals and households declined marginally in September, as 18.98 million people representing 16.06 households had sought work in August.

Plentiful monsoon showers in August also aided the migration of unskilled workers to agriculture during the kharif crop sowing season, reducing demand for unskilled jobs under the NREGS, experts said.


Erratic rains had kept up demand for NREGS work in the monsoon months of July to September 2023. But the situation has improved since November 2023, when the demand started to moderate.

Amid plentiful monsoon rainfall this year, particularly since July, many non-skilled workers have shifted to farming, reducing NREGS work requirement, according to experts.

The country's unemployment rate fell to 7.8% in September from 8.5% in the previous month, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy data. However, the labour participation rate and the employment rate declined, too, the data showed.