Unemployment rate improves to 21.1% from last week's 26%

New Delhi: India’s unemployment rate improved to 21.1% in the week ended April 26 from 26.2% in the preceding week, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on Tuesday.

Labour participation in the country fell to 35.4% in the week ended April 26 compared to 42.6% in the week ended March 22, just before the national lockdown, suggesting 72 million people quit the labour markets during the lockdown.

The working age population in India is a little over a billion people and the 7.2% decline in labour participation means 72 million people quit the labour markets in a month, the CMIE estimated.

While the unemployment rate has been somewhat volatile as it has bounced between 21% and 26% during the lockdown period, labour participation has declined in every week during the lockdown, said the CMIE.

The labour force is likely to have dropped to 362 million from 434 million in March. “Of these, 21.1% were unemployed. This suggests that the count of the unemployed who were actively looking for jobs during the week of April 26 was of the order of 76 million,” said the CMIE.

In labour market statistics, unemployed refers to a person who is willing to work and is unable to find any employment.

According to the CMIE, the national lockdown did not just throw 72 million out of the labour force but also drove another 85 million to a desperate search for jobs in the midst of a national lockdown when none were available.

“This desperation suggests that people were highly vulnerable to a loss of livelihood caused by the national lockdown,” the CMIE said.