In August, 19 lakh people lost their jobs. The manufacturing sector has been affected the most. Figures from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) show that the unemployment rate rose to 8.32 per cent in August after a brief recovery. It was 8.35 per cent in the same period last year.

According to CMIE data, the number of people employed declined from 39.97 crore in July to 39.78 crore in August, indicating that 19 lakh people lost their jobs in the last month. CMIE figures show that the monthly unemployment rate was 11.9 per cent in May this year and over 15 crore jobs were lost during this period. This was the period when the country was in the grip of the second wave of the pandemic.