India’s June unemployment rate fell to 9.2% from the May figure of 11.90%, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed on Thursday. Most economic activities have resumed in the south Asian nation after state governments eased pandemic curbs following a fall in coronavirus infections, which peaked in May.
The second wave of the Covid-19 virus has ebbed and restrictions on mobility have reduced. Correspondingly, labour markets have started improving slowly. As of the week ended June 27, the unemployment rate was 8.7 per cent, CMIE said. "In the past three weeks, the unemployment rate has ranged from 8.7 per cent to 9.4 per cent.
The average unemployment rate of 8.9 per cent is much lower than the 11.9 per cent unemployment rate seen in May 2021. The unemployment rate had shot up to 14.5 per cent in the week ended May 16 and then it peaked at 14.7 per cent in the week ended May 23," it said. As the unemployment rate rose, labour participation rate (LPR) started to fall indicating a rise in dejection in the labour force.
"First, it fell from 41.3 per cent in the week ended May 9 to 40.5 per cent in the week ended May 16 when the unemployment rate shot up. Then, in the next week when the unemployment rate inched up further, the LPR fell rather sharply to 39.4 per cent."
