21 million salaried Indians lost jobs in Apr-Aug: Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy Data

Guwahati: The number of salaried jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic from April to August stood at 21 million from with more than 3.3 million jobs lost in August and about 4.8 million in July, according to the data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

18.9 million jobs have been lost since April -- the month when the impact of the lockdown was truly felt for the first time -- which increased rapidly by the month of August. An earlier ICMR report showed that that soon after 3.9 million jobs were added in June, five million jobs were lost in July.

The latest data reveals that salaried jobs receded from 86 million to 65 million in the year 2019-2020. The CMIE report said that the deficit of 21 million jobs is the biggest among all types of employment. About 4.8 million salaried jobs were lost in July and then in August, another 3.3 million jobs were gone, it said.

CMIE CEO Mahesh Vyas has pointed out that while salaried jobs are not lost easily, once lost, they are far more difficult to retrieve. Therefore, their ballooning numbers are a source of worry, he said.

As per the monthly ICMR report, the unemployment rate, which has been falling so far after April, increased from 7.4 percent in July to 8.4 percent in August. As a result, the employment rate fell from 37.6 percent to 37.5 percent in the same period.

Salaried jobs are not only confined to those offered by the organizations but also include informal salaried jobs for house helps, cooks, drivers, gardeners, guards which form around 21-22 percent of the total employment in India.

Since the announcement of the countrywide lockdown towards the end of March, the Indian economy has faced a severe downfall with several organizations and companies implementing job cuts and a reduction in salaries owing to the crisis. Various experts have urged for governmental support in order to survive the job losses.

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