In the month of july, almost 50 lakh Indians lost their jobs due to the global coronavirus pandemic, taking the total tally of those who lost jobs since April to 1.89 crores, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data showed. On a net basis, around 1.77 crore jobs were lost in April. Additional 40 lakhs jobs in May and June and more 50 lakhs jobs were lost in July, the report read. So, by July, the losses had swelled to 1.89 crores.
Due to the lockdown, many organizations had to remain closed while others had to scale down operation as they tried to survive the covid crisis. CMIE had earlier estimated 12.15 crore job losses for April, which later narrowed down to 10.3 crores in May and then to 2.9 crores in June. In July, 1.1 crore people lost their jobs. Of the 12.15 crore estimated job losses, daily wagers and small traders accounted for over 9.1 crores.
The loss of around 50 lakh jobs in July comes after around 39 lakh jobs were retrieved in June, as per the data. In April, 1.77 crore salaried jobs were lost, followed by 1 lakh job losses of salaried employees in May.
"While salaried jobs are not lost easily, once lost, they are also far more difficult to retrieve. Therefore, their ballooning numbers are a source of worry," the centre's CEO Mahesh Vyas said. "Salaried jobs were nearly 19 million (190 lakh) short of their average in 2019-20. They were 22 per cent lower than their level in the last fiscal year," he added.
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“On a net basis, the plight of salaried employees has worsened since the lockdown began as by July, their losses had swelled to 18.9 million,” CMIE said.
As the nation had started unlocking in a phased manner from June, some of the people got back to work. But the recovery was largely seen in informal jobs. "Of the 9.12 crores jobs lost in April, 1.44 crores came back in May, 4.45 crores in June and 2.55 crores in July. Only 68 lakh jobs remain to return," CMIE report stated. It is estimated that only 21% of all employment in India is in the form of a salaried employment which is more resilient to economic shocks.