Demonetisation, GST impacted jobs more than NSSO's headline numbers suggest

The unemployment rate, measured in terms of the usual status approach, stood at a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in the July 2017-June 2018 period

The real impact of demonetisation and the goods and services tax (GST) — two big economic decisions taken by the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance — on jobs has been much more than what is shown in the headline unemployment rate figures given in the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO's) report for 2017-18.

According to the current weekly status (CWS) approach of the NSSO’s periodic labour force survey (LFPS), the unemployment rate stood at 8.9 per cent in 2017-18. In this approach, the activity status of a person is determined on the basis of the reference period of one week.