India39;s urban unemployment rises to 10.1 in Dec CMIE
Hiring slows in IT, retail, manufacturing amid global slowdown
High unemployment pose challenge in state, general elections
Young workers looking for good quality jobs as living costs rise
Economists warn of high unemployment impact on growth prospects

FARIDABAD, India, Jan 20 Reuters Ravi Verma, hired by an electrical parts manufacturing firm early last year as India39;s economy surged, was fired in November when the company lost several export orders. He has since remained unemployed, unable to pay back a 100,000 rupee 1,224 loan he took to buy a twowheeler scooter.

Verma is among thousands of Indian workers who lost jobs as the global slowdown hit exports, while the reentry of nearly 20 million workers into the job market after the pandemic has aggravated the problem.

The rising unemployment in India belies other indicators suggesting the economy is undergoing a healthy rebound from the COVID19 pandemic. Instead, the surge in people looking for work, many of them rural migrants, raises concerns about consumption and longer term growth prospects.

I have been looking for a job for two months, Verma said, looking up from a Hindi language newspaper he was reading at a community centre close to his oneroom home in the industrial town of Faridabad in northern India.

I face a risk of loan default if I don39;t get a job soon.

The urban unemployment rate swelled to 10.1 in December, although the total number…