1.5 million people lost jobs in August as unemployment rises
- ByAyushi Ray | September 2, 2021
1.5 million people lost jobs in August as unemployment rose, reversing some of the gains made in July, as the unemployment rate rose in rural and urban India. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the number of the employed fell from 399.38 million in July to 397.78 million in August, with nearly 1.3 million job losses in rural India alone. According to CMIE, the national unemployment rate rose from 6.95% in July to 8.32% last month. Urban unemployment rose 1.5 percentage points to 9.78% in August. It was at 8.3% in July, 10.07% in June, 14.73% in May and 9.78% in April. In March, just before the second wave of Covid infections hit India, the urban unemployment rate was at 7.27%.
Rural unemployment rose 1.3 percentage points to 7.64% in August against 6.34% in July, primarily driven by low sowing during the kharif season. While the employment rate fell, the labour force participation rate climbed marginally in August, indicating that a larger pool of people were willing to get into the job market. The monthly CMIE data showed 36 million people were actively looking for work, compared to around 30 million in July. The total labour force size also rose to 433.86 million—almost four million more than July—reflecting a worsening trend.
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