Unemployment increased 14.8 pct points, rose to 23.5% in Apr 2020: CMIE Survey

India's unemployment rate increased 14.8 percentage points, rising to 23.5% in Apr 2020, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). This was a sharp rise from the previous month.

Among large states, unemployment was highest in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Bihar at 49.8%, 47.1%, and 46.6% respectively. It was lowest in Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana at 2.9%, 3.4%, and 6.2% respectively. Tap or mouseover on a state in the map below to see unemployment numbers for it.

Unemployment in Tamil Nadu moved from 6.3% in Mar 2020 to 49.8% in Apr 2020. Over a longer time period, unemployment has moved from 0.9% in May 2019 to 49.8% in Apr 2020.

There are few frequently updated government metrics for tracking jobs in India, particularly in the informal sector. As a consequence, high frequency indicators like the CMIE Unemployment Survey tend to be used as a proxy for evaluating the health of the labour market. The survey has a sample size of 43,600 households per month that are well distributed geographically, and across urban and rural areas.

Data has been sourced from the CMIE Unemployment website.