COVID-19 Lockdown Effect: Unemployment Rate Over 23%

The figures, based on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s weekly tracker survey, have held steady for 2 weeks

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Rhythum Seth/ The Quint)

The lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic has started showing its impact on unemployment in India. Early estimates of job data and labour participation has shown the unemployment rate in the last week itself has risen to over 23 percent.

According to the latest report by think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) the employment rate had fallen to an all-time low of 38.2 percent in March 2020. It stated, “The fall since January 2020 is particularly steep – almost spectacular. It seems to have nosedived in March after having struggled to remain stable over the past two years. Then, there is a precipitous fall.”

Further, CMIE also pointed out that the labour participation rate in March this year was 41.9 percent, as compared to 42.6 percent in February, suggesting the fall happened even before the lockdown.

‘Highest Unemployment Rate in 43 Months’

The unemployment rate in March was 8.7 percent – the highest in 43 months.

However, CMIE talking about the last week, stated that the unemployment rate was 23.8 percent, with labour participation further dropping to 9 percent and the employment rate standing at 30 percent.

The figures, based on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s weekly tracker survey, have held steady for two weeks now. The latest data for the week ended 5 April was released on Monday, 6 April.

(With inputs from CMIE)