WHY IN NEWS?

Labour minister Bhupender Yadav has said that Urban India witnessed an unemployment rate of 20.8% in the quarter of April-June 2020. This period witnessed stringent nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

About:

• Urban joblessness in the country had hit a high of 20.8% in the April-June 2020 quarter, especially since the country was under two months of hardcore lockdown.
• According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Quarterly bulletin April-June 2020, quarterly unemployment rate for the quarters ending July-Sep 2019, Oct-Dec 2019, Jan-March 2020 and April-June 2020 were 8.3%, 7.8%, 9.1% and 20.8% respectively.
• The ministry has also mentioned that the complete employment or unemployment situation of the country can only be assessed only from the survey data for the full year covering both the urban and rural areas.