Soaring Unemployment Rate: 1.9 Million Indians Lost Jobs In August

New Delhi: More than 1.9 million people lost their jobs — both in formal and informal sectors — in August.

With unemployment rate rising in rural and urban India, the gains made in July were reversed, the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said.

Unemployment rate in India reached 8.3% as against 7% in July, mainly from the farm sector, according to the Mumbai-based business information company.

Consequently, employment rate dipped from 37.5% in July to 37.2% in August. Absolute employment was down from 399.7 million in July to 397.8 million in August.

“The loss was essentially in farm jobs and reflects the seasonal nature of employment and uncertainty caused this year by an erratic monsoon,” CMIE said in its weekly analysis.

Employment in agriculture fell by 8.7 million, while non-farm jobs rose by 6.8 million in August.

According to CMIE, manufacturing sector has permanently lost around 10 million jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns.