India, Aug. 18 -- India's headline unemployment rate came in at 5.1% in July, marginally lower than the 5.2% figure in July last year, although unemployment of people in the 15-29 years age group increased by 0.70 percentage points, a number that is bound to cause concern, especially in the wake of Gen Z protests across India last month. The fact that unemployment in the segment increased despite no change in their labour force participation rate is even more concerning.

The numbers are from Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday. The headline number is in keeping with the marginal decline seen in unemployment rate in May and June.

To be sure, the trend in unemployment was opp...