RURAL JOBS DROP, URBAN RISE IN AUG.

Rising unemployment in rural India brought down overall employment in the country by 0.2 million in August from July levels. What hurt rural unemployment was lower farm and MGNREGA jobs.

The unemployment rate, which has been falling after April, increased from 7.4 per cent in July to 8.4 per cent in August. As a result, the employment rate fell from 37.6 per cent to 37.5 per cent in the same period, finds think-tank CMIE.

This deterioration in labour market conditions in August was essentially located in rural India. While in urban India 3.4 million got jobs, employment declined by 3.6 million in rural India, thus, accounting for the 0.2 million overall decline.

Rural India, that led the recovery story till July has pulled back hard. Rural India faced a double whammy in August. It saw a fall in MGNREGA employment, which is nonfarming related employment, and kharif sowing-related employment.

As per the initial data available, compared to July, person-days generated in August were down by 55 per cent. August person-days were also 72 per cent lower than that in June. The fall in MGNREGA employment coincided with a fall in farming activities in August. By July-end, 83 per cent of the kharif sowing was complete.