In very surprising news, it has come forward that India’s urban employment rate has increased to 35.1% as recorded in the past week. Employment rate had dipped to an all-time low in the month of April after a nationwide lockdown was announced in the last week of March by PM Narendra Modi with no prior warning or information. Most workers had been relieved of their work and were sent to their respective homes by the employers. Most workers move from villages to work in the cities as domestic helpers, drivers and gardeners, or as daily-wagers on construction sites, building malls, flyovers and homes, or as street vendors. As many as 92.5% of labourors have already lost one to three weeks of work as soon as lockdown was announced and of a group of over 1,10,929 migrant workers stranded across the country amid the nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus infection, only 6% had received their full wages till April 26, according to reports. Among those who are self-employed – such as street vendors and rickshaw pullers – more than 90% had not earned any money in the first 42 days of the lockdown.

The employment rate had earlier risen to 34.5% in June end but fell to 33.2% in July first week but the employment has again bounced back in the past week. Even at 35.1%, the employment has fallen since 2016 when the employment rate was at 43%. After the lockdown was lifted or ‘unlocked’, numerous migrant workers returned to the city or town of their workplace in order to resume work so as to have a steady income. Major towns and cities have now adopted a relaxed approach now with less stricter rules for roaming on streets recklessly.

The employment is now back on tracks but it is still far away from the employment rates recorded in the first quarter of this fiscal year which averaged at 39.2%. It was also noted that the labour participation rate has now risen to 41.9% which is the highest since the implementation of lockdown. In fact the unemployment rate which had increased by 0.5% at 7.9% has also seen a dipped in the recent weeks.

The rising employment rate is a good sight for Indians as it means that businesses are now open and working and will help stabilize the economy of the nation. But if the businesses are opening and a lot more people are now getting on the streets when the cases and patients of Covid-19 are increasing at an unpredictable rate, that means more population is at riskof being exposed to this virus and which would imply that the situation of Covid-19 pandemic could worsen in India.