13 million jobs lost in June, unemployment rose sharply: CMIE data

Unemployment rate in India has gone up to 7.8 per cent in June from 7.12 per cent in May, with over 13 million jobs lost primarily due to delay in harvest in the agriculture sector, data released by economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said.

Unemployment rose sharply in rural areas compared to urban places as the unemployment rate fell to 8.03 per cent from 6.62 per cent in May. In urban areas, it rose to 7.3 per cent from 8.21 per cent in May, the CMIE data showed.

“This is the biggest fall in employment during a non-lockdown month. This is basically a rural phenomenon and seasonal. However, this is a seasonal phase when there is a lull in agricultural activities in rural areas and it is most likely to be reversed in July when the sowing begins,” CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas told PTI.

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He said while 13 million lost jobs during the reporting month, the count of the unemployed increased by only 3 million. The rest exited the labour markets as the labour force shrunk by 10 million.

This brought down the labour force participation rate to its lowest of 38.8%, against 40% in the preceding two months.

“It is worrisome that such large swathes of labour are so vulnerable to the vagaries of the monsoon,” he stated.

He said, the other worrisome data point is that June 2022 saw a fall of 2.5 million jobs among salaried employees.

“June also exposed the growing vulnerability of salaried jobs. The government shrunk the demand for armed personnel and opportunities in private equity-funded new-world jobs also started to shrink. The rain god cannot save these jobs. The economy needs to grow at a faster pace than it may in the near future to save and generate such jobs,” he added.

The highest rate of unemployment was witnessed in Haryana at 30.6 per cent followed by Rajasthan at 29.8 per cent, Assam at 17.2 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir at 17.2 per cent, Bihar at 14 per cent, the data stated.

(With agency inputs)