Amidst suspended economic activities throughout the country to counter the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s unemployment rate is surging at a double digit pace. A severe jobs crisis is staring the country in the face as several crucial sectors of the economy have been severely impacted by the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. As per the latest data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate has surged to 27.11 per cent for the week ended May 3 from the level of 6.74 per cent in the week ended March 15. Currently, the rate of unemployment is the highest in the urban areas at 29.22 per cent as against 26.16 per cent for the rural areas. The estimated overall loss of employment between March and April 2020 is 114 million which implies that one in every four employed persons lost their jobs due to the corona outbreak.