According to the latest data shared by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the COVID-19 crisis has led to a spike in the country's unemployment rate to 27.11% for the week ending 3 May, PTI reported.
Unemployment levels were at just under 7% before the pandemic crisis in mid-March, the data noted.
Further, the study noted that unemployment was the highest in urban areas at 29.22%, primarily in the red zones compared to rural unemployment which was at 26.69%.
As per the CMIE data, the monthly unemployment rate in April stood at 23.52%, up from March’s 8.74%.
The data pointed to a steady rise in unemployment since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, with the week ending 29 March showing the sharpest hike of 23.81%.
As of the end of April, the highest unemployment was seen in Puducherry which had 75.8% unemployment, followed by Tamil Nadu at 49.8%, Jharkhand at 47.1% and Bihar at 46.6%.
The unemployment in states like Maharashtra was 20.9%, while the rate in unemployment in Haryana stood at 43.2%, Uttar Pradesh is at 21.5% and Karnataka’s unemployment was at 29.8%.
Hilly states had the lowest incidence of unemployment as of April, the think tank reportedly said.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)