Unemployment rate over 23%; labour participation rate at all-time low

Labour statistics for March 2020 are worrisome. And those for the past two weeks are much worse

In March 2020, the labour participation rate fell to an all-time low, the unemployment rate shot up sharply and the employment rate fell to its all-time low of 38.2 per cent. The fall since January 2020 is particularly steep — al­most spectacular. It seems to have nosedived in March after having struggled to remain stable over the past two years. Then, there is a precipitous fall.

The labour participation rate in Ma­rch 2020 was 41.9 per cent. It was 42.6 per cent in February and 42.7 per cent in March 2019. We had feared a fall in labour participation rate