All is not well for India as the unemployment scenario is now a cause for concern following over 50 million people losing their jobs since nationwide lockdown. A peek into the recent report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) reveals that about 27 million youth in the age group of 20-30 years were given the pink slip. And the major chunk of them was from the IT, service and manufacturing sector.
India presents a grim picture with layoffs, pay-cuts and downsizing of staff in almost all sectors. To be precise, unemployment crisis is more serious than COVID-19 spread as it has left many families in a quandary since the sole breadwinners of the families have lost their jobs. Virtually, they are sitting with their fingers crossed as to what to do for their livelihood. A piquant situation where the people at the helm show scant regard to the problems of the jobless!
Worst hit are the migrant population from Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, who were left in the lurch sans any food after the employers showed no interest in taking care of them during the lockdown. With no other option, the migrant workers opted to go their native places thru’ the respective district collectors, who arranged charter trains exclusively for them. Earlier, many workers walked miles and miles together with the hope of reaching their destination. A most disturbing picture with the country witnessing migrant workers losing their lives enroute. Unmoved by this, the government at the centre just released statistics about their governance and schemes.
According to CMIE index, the country’s unemployment rate remains unchanged at 23.5 per cent in May 2020, the highest level on record, with the urban jobless rate hitting a new all-time high as the country remains under lockdown amid a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, there was a drop in rural unemployment following the unlocking of rural economy and better fund allocation under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme wherein rural-folk got engaged.
Mahesh Vyas, chief executive officer of CMIE, writes in the website saying that job loss of 27 million youngsters in their 20s will have serious long-term repercussions. “They will have to compete with the new cohorts joining the labour force after them, for fewer jobs,” he said adding young India will not be able to build the savings it will require for their later part of their life. Notably, about 33 million men and women in their 30s lost jobs in April out of which 86% of the job losses were among men.
“This is the highest unemployment rate in 43 months. Or, since September 2016. The rate has climbed rather steeply from the 7.16 per cent level of January 2020. Since some may have just been sent home for now, the actual scope of unemployment may be even higher and may show up a little later,” says Vyas.
Much perturbing that a large segment of daily wage-earners was severely hit due to lockdown as work at construction sites, manufacturing units, vegetable and fruit markets, wholesale rice mundies and groceries came to a grinding halt. Not to be left behind, the plight of the middle income group, who solely depended on monthly salaries, lost their jobs due to lockdown. Sadly, many sick units spread across the country seized the opportunity to downsize their staff during this lockdown assigning flimsy reasons.
Atlas cycle company, the largest cycle manufacturer started way back in 1951 by Jankidas Kapoor in Sonepat, downed the shutters of Sahibabad unit on June 3 during the World Bicycle Day without any prior notice to its 400 odd employees. All that they could say was financial constraint to run the unit. Similar was the situation across different states. Taking a cue from software companies, other sectors too introduced the ‘Work from Home’ concept with many youngsters confining themselves at their dwellings meddling with their laptops. Seems like this would become a permanent feature during the post lockdown period.
Sadly, the NextGen are at the receiving end as there is an uncertainty as far as their placements are concerned after their academics. Most of the Human Resource experts are of the view that unemployment will become a major headache for powers-that-be at the Centre to tackle this problem. What is irking is that the Union government seldom thinks in terms of bailing out unemployed youth and to find ways and means to rehabilitate them with jobs. Like adding fuel to fire, a large number of expats are coming back to their natives in India after being shown the door in the US, UK and Middle East countries. This, according to HR experts, will further aggravate the unemployment problem in India.
[The author is a senior journalist and former chief reporter at The New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle]