Urban unemployment rate spiked to double-digit rate for the first time in 17 weeks, to reach 10.09 per cent for the week-ended December 12, pushing the country’s overall joblessness rate to a nine-week high of 8.53 per cent, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Rural joblessness rate too was at a nine-week high of 7.42 per cent during the week. Amidst the rise in rural unemployment rate, there has also been a fall in employment generation under MG-NREGS.