Unemployment Rate In India Jumps To Five-Week High At 8.67%: CMIE Data

The overall unemployment rate in India jumped to a five-week high, while rural unemployment rate peaked to an eight-week high amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

The unemployment rate climbed to 8.67 per cent last week as against 7.19 per cent to the week before, according to the data released by the Centre of Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

This is the highest unemployment rate as compared to the overall monthly joblessness of 7.43 per cent in July.

The rural unemployment rate spiked to an eight-week high of 8.37 per cent from 6.47 per cent in the previous week as the crop sowing season mostly ended. According to the data, the rural unemployment rate was higher than this in the week to 14 June at 10.96 per cent.

Urban unemployment which was initially declining, took a u-turn to record a 9.31 per cent unemployment rate in the week to 9 August as against 8.73 per cent in the previous week.

Economists have said that migrants have started to return from villages due to lack of opportunities and increasing demand from constructions and textiles to resume activities in cities and urban areas.

The return of migrants will show its immediate effect on both health and employment in cities, K.R. Shyam Sundar, a labour economist and professor at XLRI Jamshedpur said.

"While some sectors like e-commerce and fast-moving consumer goods are seeing a gradual growth, several sectors will take months to come back to a normal situation. And again local lockdowns and the growing fear of the pandemic among people is having its impact in the local trade segments like malls, markets and restaurants," the economist added.

Also Read: Sudden Lockdowns In Areas Make Recovery In Employment Difficult: CMIE Data