The unemployment rate in rural India has increased by over 2 percentage points in the past week, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a private research group.

The CMIE weekly date showed the unemployment rate in rural India increased to 25.09 per cent against 22.79 per cent the previous week. The unemployment rate in urban areas declined from 26.95 to 22.72 in this period. The unemployment rate nationally increased from 24.01 to 24.34, suggesting one in four persons had nothing to do.

The return of migrants to their villages may have pushed up the rural unemployment rate. At the same time, some factories and shops have started operation in urban areas in the past week.