India’s Unemployment Rate Shot Up to 23.4 %: CMIE

The latest data from CMIE predicts the joblessness for the week ended 5 April, and estimated that unemployment rate shot up from 8.7 per cent in March to the current 23 per cent.

Migrant workers carrying sacks of groceries distributed at their workplace walk on a street during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Chennai. PIC/AFP.

New Delhi: The rate of unemployment in India has risen to 23.4 per cent, according to the latest data released by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on Monday. The joblessness paints a grim picture of the economy which has been impacted due to the 21-day nation lockdown because of the outbreak of Covid 19. Based on its previous data, CMIE has predicted that the global pandemic may drastically hamper India’s economic growth causing urban unemployment to soar 30.9 per cent while overall unemployment rose to 23.4 per cent. The latest data from CMIE predicts the joblessness for the week ended 5 April, and estimated that unemployment rate shot up from 8.7 per cent in March to the current 23 per cent. In March 2020, the labour participation rate fell to an all-time low, the unemployment rate shot up sharply and the employment rate fell to its all-time low. “The employment rate fell to an all-time low of 38.2 per cent in March 2020. 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,” according to CMIE. With the covid-19 outbreak affecting demand, mostly in overseas markets, the growth in India’s services sector also shrank in March even as it posted the biggest rise in business activity in more than seven years in February, as per a survey by IHS Markit. Meanwhile, in the US around 6.65 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in the US for the week ending 27  March. It puts into focus the harsh economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the US economy.