18.9 million salaried Indians lost their jobs since COVID-19 Lockdown: Report

Guwahati: Although the coronavirus induced lockdown has been hard on all of us, a report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy says that salaried employees have suffered the worst amid the deep dive taken by the economy in recent months.

As per the report, nearly five million salaried people lost their jobs in July. While 18.9 million salaried jobs have been lost since the beginning of the lockdown that was kickstarted in the month of March, 2020.

Terming the Indian economy's recovery as an "unhealthy recovery", the report states that the recovery in India is in largely informal jobs.

As per the report, small traders, hawkers and daily wage labourers (belonging to the informal sector) were the worst hit by the lockdown in April. Of the 121.5 million jobs lost in that month, 91.2 million were among these.

However, of the 91.2 million such jobs lost in April, 14.4 million came back in May, 44.5 million in June, and 25.5 million in July. Only 6.8 million remain to return in this sector that is largely dependent on the economic ecosystem for its survival.

Similarly, many entrepreneurs also declared themselves unemployed during the lockdown. These include self-employed professionals like practicing doctors, lawyers or accountants. However, with the easing of the curbs, these professions too roared back.

At the same time, the occupation of farming has grown greatly popular during the pandemic period and the ensuing lockdown.

According to estimates from the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey, there were 111.3 million people who declared their occupation as farming in 2019-20. This estimate had risen to 117 million in March 2020 and remained there in April as well. In June, despite the loss of jobs in the other sectors, the number of farmers in the country zoomed up to 130 million.

However, the recovery has been far less convincing for the cushier salaried jobs. As per the report, 17.7 million salaried jobs were lost in April 2020. An additional 0.1 million jobs were lost in the month of May.

Then, 3.9 million jobs were gained in June. But, again, 5 million jobs were lost in July.

On a net basis, the plight of salaried employees has worsened since the lockdown began. In April, they lost 17.7 million jobs. But by July, their losses had swelled to 18.9 million. Although these jobs are not lost easily, recovering them can be a hassle, hence the worry.

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