Unemployment rate of India inches down thanks to rural economy

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s unemployment rate improved marginally to 7.09 per cent in the week ending July 25 over the previous one, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) data showed today, NDTV reports.

The figure stood at 7.41 per cent on July 18. The change owes to a rise in rural economic activity following the onset of monsoon.

Data shows a slight increase in urban joblessness from 8.32 per cent on July 18 to 8.35 per cent on July 25.

“In rural areas, however, the rate declined from 6.99 per cent to 6.52 per cent. This is largely due to monsoon-related sowing activity,” Prabhakar Singh, the Delhi chief of the private think tank, told NDTV.

The figure kept fluctuating through the past week, according to CMIE data.

On a monthly basis, though, joblessness improved marginally to 9.17 per cent from around 10 per cent in June.

Over 10 million Indians are estimated to have lost their jobs because of the second wave of COVID-19, and around 97 per cent of Indian households’ incomes declined since the beginning of the pandemic last year, CMIE chief Mahesh Vyas had said at the end of May, according to a PTI report.

The unemployment rate had touched a record high of 23.5 per cent in May 2020 because of the national lockdown, PTI reported.

A year later, “retail auto sales — a bellwether of consumer demand — fell by more than half in May from the previous month as local lockdowns kept dealerships shut. That together with falling consumer confidence and increasing job losses weighed on discretionary purchases,” Bloomberg reported on June 28.

Another Bloomberg report on June 15, however, said there were indications of recovery in the Indian economy going by an improvement in mobility data and electricity consumption.