About 20 million workers came back into employment in May as the government eased the nationwide lockdown to counter Covid-19 outbreak.
NEW DELHI: About 20 million workers came back into employment in May as the government eased the nationwide lockdown to counter Covid-19 outbreak, according to an update by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy or CMIE. CMIE report said India’s employment rate was up 2% in May to 29% from 27% in April. CMIE had estimated 122 million people had lost their jobs due to nationwide lockdown since March 25.
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“This two percentage point increase implies that about 20 million people may have been added to the count of those that are employed,” CMIE said, adding implicitly that the loss of 122 million in April may have narrowed down to 102 million in May. “If 20 million jobs have indeed been repaired, we have made significant progress. But, the remaining challenge is five times larger at 102 million,” it added.
According to CMIE, increasing labour participation rate (LPR) week after week in May, touching 38.8% for the week ended May 17, shows that a fairly large number that had technically left the labour market in April is returning back. LPR had fallen to 35.6% in April from 41.9% in March after which it gained ground in May.
Source: Economic Times
