Employment generated under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) remained high for the second consecutive month in June, reflecting instability in the rural labour market.
Data from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act website shows work provided to households in June stood at 27.2 million compared with 26.1 million in May, a 4.2% rise while the person-days work generated under the scheme was 412 million, a dip of 5.5% compared with May. Year-on-year comparison shows households that benefited from the scheme dipped by 7.1% in June, while the person-day work generated saw 8.87% decline from 451.9 million in June 2021.
The second wave of the pandemic in April-June last year triggered the higher demand and work generation under the rural employment guarantee scheme, which has not been the case this year. Despite this, the work provided under the scheme continues to be much higher than the pre-pandemic levels. Data shows the households that benefited under MGNREGA last month was 27% more than the 21.4 million households that got work under the scheme in pre-pandemic period June 2019.
Even the person-days work generated under MGNREGA was 29% higher in June compared with 319 million in June 2019. This could be a cause of concern for the government that had factored in almost normal work demand under the scheme with the economic recovery over the last few months.