India may be fastest major growing economy in the world but that may mean little to the country’s 127 crore people many to whom continue to struggle to find right kind of jobs. India’s unemployment rate stood at 5% in 2015-16 compared to 3.8% in 2012-13, according to fifth annual survey of unemployment published by ministry of labors and employment. At first glance, it seems like a reasonable unemployment rate for a country the size of India however, a separately quarterly survey conduct by the government on jobs being created in key sectors tells a different story.

For a country where 1.2 crore people enter the workforce each year, the pace of job creation remains far below what is needed even though the economy is growing at over 7%. Across eight key employment generating sectors, only 1.35 lakh jobs were added in calendar year 2015, quarterly surveys of employment showed. In other words, jobs created were equal to only 1 percent of the addition to workforce. These sectors include textiles including apparels, leather, metals, automobiles, gems &  jewellery, transport, information technology and handlooms.

Impacts on jobs during pandemic covid-19:

Job loss is the most severe immediate impact of COVID-19 crisis while lower economic growth and rise in inequality would be the long-term effects, according to a survey by the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE). The online survey was conducted on 520 ISLE members in the last week of May. The preliminary results showed that loss of employment was considered as the most severe immediate impact of the crisis while lower economic growth and rise in inequality were probable long-term impact.

 As per the survey, the immediate policy priorities suggested were protection of workers and families, short-term employment creation and income transfers to affected workers. Short-term policy requirements were support to MSMEs, expansion of MGNREGA, job creation, cash transfers and social security while the long-term measures included need for building a stronger public health system, universalisation of social security and policies for welfare and rights of migrants.

The survey was discussed at a two-day virtual international conference on “Implications of the COVID-19 Crisis for Labour and Employment in India: Impact, Strategies, and Perspectives” on June 8-9.

the latest ILO data on the labor market impact on the COVID -19 pandemic reveals the devastating effects on workers in the informal economy and no hundreds of millions of enterprises worldwide.

GENEVA (ILO NEWS)- according to the ILO monitor third edition: COVID-19 and the world of work, the drop in working hours in the current (second) quarter of 2020 expected to be significantly worse than previously estimated.

Regionally, the situation has worsened for all major regional groups. Estimates suggest a 12.4 per cent loss of working hours in Q2 for the Americas (compared to pre-crisis levels) and 11.8 per cent for Europe and Central Asia. The estimates for the rest of the regional groups follow closely and are all above 9.5 per cent.

Compared to pre-crisis levels (Q4 2019), a 10.5 per cent deterioration is now expected, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week). The previous estimate was for a 6.7 per cent drop, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers. This is due to the prolongation and extension of lockdown measures.

conclusion

This study was undertaken with the primary object to study the impact (positive as well as negative) of economic liberalisation on employment generation in India. It aimed at studying whether employment opportunities have increased or decreased or remained constant during post-liberalisation period, whether there is any qualitative improvement in employment conditions, whether employment generation programmes initiated by the Government of India have been successful in achieving their objectives, etc.

References

• Bloombergquint.com
• Peoplematters.in
• Economictimes.indiatimes.com
• Ilo.org