Interview as performance and the spectre of unemployment

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data, released earlier this week, urban Indian unemployment had climbed to 8.2 per cent of the labour force — an 11-month high. Since the disastrous demonetisation in November last year, labour participation in the market has increased, but jobs are scarce. Mahesh Vyas of CMIE writes: “The rise in labour participation rate and the unemployment rate shows that labour is returning back to the labour markets but, it isn’t finding jobs.” He adds tracking unemployment over the past year and a half has been a “tumultuous experience”, with major expansions and