Tattering social fabric, economic slowdown hurting December labour demand

Labour participation rate had fallen to an all-time low of 42.4 per cent in November 2019. This, along with a host of other fast-frequency data suggest that the Indian economy is likely slowing further in the third quarter of fiscal 2019-20 after growth dropped to 5 per cent and then 4.5 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively.

Preliminary and partial data for December indicate that labour participation is recovering from the November fall, but perhaps, not enough to make November look like an aberration. 

The LPR has scaled up in each of the three weeks of December