India was one of the nations that was hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic; an issue that was caused in no small part to both the population size and density of the South Asian country. Recent data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed that the rate of unemployment has been rising since March’s 6.5 percent. It rose to 7.97 percent in April and spiked to 11.9 percent in May before falling to 9.17 percent in June. As July comes to a close, the unemployment rate has dropped further to 6.95 percent, the lowest in four months.
“The July data suggests a near-complete recovery. The labour participation rate, unemployment rate and employment rate have all bounced back to close to their March 2021 levels,” said Mahesh Vyas, CMIE managing director & CEO.
Within the rural areas, the unemployment rate dropped to 6.34 percent in July. It shows a similar trend as previously mentioned; with unemployment rising since March before beginning its downward trend in June.
The urban unemployment rate also fell month-on-month to 8.3 percent in July, but was still higher than the 7.27 percent in March. The trend generally followed those of overall unemployment and rural unemployment rates, recording 9.78 percent in April, 14.73 percent in May and 10.07 percent in June.
May 2021 was one of four months since at least January 2016 when the overall monthly unemployment rate breached the double-digit mark. Last year, the nation-wide lockdown contributed to double-digit unemployment rates in April, May and June.
In 2020, the overall unemployment rate peaked in April at 23.52 percent. It then started falling from May to 21.73 percent and 10.18 percent in June, according to Financial Express.
