Job losses mount in April

The employment rate fell from 37.6 per cent in March to 36.8 per cent in April

April 2021 turned out to be worse than expectations. We had expected labour participation rate to stabilise at its March 2021 level. The LPR had dropped sharply in March already after a modest fall in February. But, the LPR fell for a third consecutive month in April. It fell to 39.98 per cent. This is the lowest LPR since May 2020, the month of a stringent nation-wide lockdown. The LPR in April 2021 is therefore the worst since the national lockdown. Perhaps, this fall is the result of the local lockdowns in several states. For example, in Maharashtra, a state