Rural unemployment rate falls to 17.92%, lowest since lockdown
Experts said unlocking of rural economy and better fund allocation under rural job scheme have begun yielding resultsUrban unemployment has climbed to 25.14% in the week ended 31 May from 22.72% in the previous week
NEW DELHI: Rural unemployment rate in India dropped to 17.92% in the week ended 31 May as against 25.09% in the previous week, marking the lowest job loss rate since the country went into a preventive lockdown in the fourth week of March.
With the weekly data from the Center for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE) on Monday, labour economists said unlocking of rural economy and better fund allocation under rural job scheme have begun yielding results.
The national unemployment rate also fell to a two-month low in the week ended 31 May on the back of improvement in the rural job scene. The overall unemployment rate in India was 20.19% during the week, down from 24.34% in the previous week. This is also the lowest rate of national unemployment rate after 22 March when the job loss rate was 8.41%.
“Drop in rural unemployment is a huge breather for all as it caters to a large share of the labour market. This is because the unlocking of rural economy is now almost universal despite threat to a spike in the covid-19 cases. This also shows willingness of people to get back to work – offices, markets, shops and restart of the agricultural supply chain," said K.R. Shaym Sundar, labour economist and professor at XLRI Jamshedpur.
Shaym Sundar, however, said while gradual fall in unemployment rate is a net positive and the trend may continue to improve, the threat of the infection rate spiking is high and may play a part in the recovery of the labour market. He said the high infection rate is showing its impact in urban centres and bigger cities.
The CMIE data corroborates what experts say. As per the CMIE data, urban unemployment has climbed to 25.14% in the week ended 31 May from 22.72% in the previous week. This reverse in trend in urban unemployment rate, experts argue, is because Indian cities continue to struggle due to a spread in covid-19 and cities like Delhi are witnessing new highs in the coronavirus infection numbers regularly.
Experts agree that urban employment scenario will improve in June as sectors like trade, and IT open up albeit with limited capacity.
“The improvement in rural unemployment rate is a guard against high urban unemployment rate. A betterment in job scenario in rural areas due to several factors including the better fund allocation for national rural employment guarantee scheme means migrants who have gone back may not return immediately easing pressure on urban centres for jobs. The even distribution of workforce is good at a crisis time," Shyam Sundar added.
India is in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic with the country recording over 191,000 positive cases and nearly 5,400 deaths.
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