Jobless rate drops to 8.7%
„Sharp dip in jobless rate in June 2nd week
Chennai: There is a ray of hope on the job front. The unemployment data in the week ending June 13 shows an improvement from the lows a few weeks back. As per the data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, in the second week of June unemployment rate has eased to 8.7 per cent from 13.6 per cent in the first week of June.
The unemployment rate dropped sharply last week from a week ago, in the first sign that the economy may be on the mend, as the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak subsides. While exports were already growing in May, power consumption, mobi-lity and industrial activity have improved in June, as the unlocking process started in several states.
As per the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), in the second week of June unemployment rate has eased sharply to 8.7 per cent from 13.6 per cent in the first week of June. In the week ended May 23, the jobless rate was as worse as 14.7 per cent. There was a slight improvement at 12.2 per cent in the week to May 30.
The recovery is visible both in the rural and urban markets. Rural unemployment rate has eased to 8.2 per cent from 13.5 per cent. Urban jobless rate too has come down to 9.7 per cent from 17.9 per cent.
“We have just received the data. We will have to analyse the data to understand the factors that have triggered this improvement on the job front,” Mahesh Vyas, founder and CEO of CMIE told Financial Chronicle.
In the first week of June, CMIE had expected a recovery of sorts in employment. “This relentless loss of employment can be expected to abate somewhat in the coming weeks as many parts of the country that were under a lockdown have started announcing cautious relaxations,” it had said. Most of the states, including Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka have relaxed their restrictions while getting into the unlocking process.
Monster.com has also found growth in job postings in several sectors. Around 45 per cent of the industries indicate positive month-on-month growth in May against April in job postings, with retail, home appliances and telecom showing the highest growth, it said. Other industries that are doing well compared to the previous month include IT hardware & software, banking & financial services, insurance, office equipment & automation, healthcare, biotechnology & life sciences and pharmaceuticals.
Further, the Google Mobility report released recently too has indicated improvement in activity in Indian public places and offices, denoting more relaxation in states under lockdown.
Power consumption too had grown by 12.6 per cent in the first week of June, indicating improved industrial and manufacturing activity.
Merchandise exports grew both yearly as well as sequentially in May. Exports in May 2021 were 67 per cent higher than the low base of the lock-downhit May 2020. The exports were also 7.93 per cent higher than May 2019. Most importantly, exports continued to grow sequentially by 6.6 per cent over April 2021.