VIRUS SURGE LEAVES ANOTHER 7 MILLION PEOPLE JOBLESS
Unemployment rate rises to four-month high
India’s unemployment rate rose to a four-month high of nearly 8 per cent in April, and the outlook remains weak with state administrations extending lockdowns to curb a record surge in virus cases. Unemployment increased to 7.97 per cent from 6.5 per cent in March, with more than seven million jobs lost last month, according to data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private research firm.
The unemployment rate rose to a four-month high of nearly 8 per cent in April, and the outlook remains weak with state administrations extending lockdowns to curb a record surge in cases.
Unemployment increased to 7.97 per cent from 6.5 per cent in March, with more than seven million jobs lost last month, according to data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private research firm.
“There is a fall in the jobs available. This could be due to the lockdowns,” CMIE Managing Director Mahesh Vyas said by telephone. “Since the virus is still quite intense and we are stressed on the medical health-services front, it’s likely that the situation will remain tense in May as well.” The weak employment outlook is a risk for India’s chances of reaching double-digit economic growth this year. Many economists already have lowered their projections, while several are warning of possible reductions if provincial curbs are extended further.
Double whammy
A separate survey Monday by IHS Markit showed the manufacturing sector was still losing jobs in
April, though the rate of contraction was the weakest in the current 13-month sequence of job shedding. The CMIE data — which economists track closely in the absence of real-time employment data from the government — show joblessness is more acute in urban areas as laborers return to their villages.
The labor-force participation rate, which includes the number of people with jobs and those seeking work, declined to just below 40% in April. “It’s a double whammy for the economy,” Vyas said. “Some people get disappointed and leave the labor market. The problem is the inability of the Indian economy to generate sufficient jobs for people who want them, so incomes are falling.”