The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) reported an increase in October’s unemployment rate on November 2. Rate climbed to 6.98% from 6.67% in September. In Haryana, Rajasthan figures continue to remain high even after widespread relaxations from lockdown months. The rates for urban and rural India were 7.15% and 6.9% respectively.
CMIE recently also released a set of data related to the growth (or contraction) in manufacturing for five months through August. It commented that there was a broad-based recovery from the times of lockdown. Almost a third of manufactured products registered a growth in August from less than a tenth in April. Among those still in contraction mode, only 10% contracted over 50% — much below 70.4% in April, reports Down to Earth.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a state of complete lockdown across the country, thousands of workers left the cities that employed them, to reach their native lands. Economic activities, except agriculture, came to a near-standstill. It reflected in the unemployment figures for April (23.52%) and May (21.73%). The level decreased to 10.18% in June.
On a 30-day moving average basis, the unemployment rate remained in the range 6.74%-7.13% in the last three weeks.