About 12 crore jobs were lost due to the lockdown in April, but things are gradually improving. However, only 39 lakh new salaried jobs have been created.
New Delhi: With gradual resumption in economic activity after over two months of nationwide lockdown, India added seven crore jobs in June, up from 2.1 crore new jobs in May, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
This improvement comes after more than 12 crore jobs were lost in April on account of the complete halt in economic activity, as India enforced a shutdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to many migrant labourers returning to their villages due to loss of livelihoods.
Most of the jobs added in June were in the categories of small traders and daily wagers, similar to trends shown in May. About 4.4 crore jobs were added in the daily wagers category, followed by 1.2 crore farmers, 1 crore businesses and 0.4 crore in the salaried class.
Mahesh Vyas, managing director and CEO of CMIE, said in a note that the progress of recovery of jobs has been the slowest among salaried employees, and added that a combination of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme and increased kharif sowing has spurred the employment market in June.
In May, the government had announced an additional allocation of Rs 40,000 crore to the MGNREGA scheme to provide states funds to employ the returning migrant labourers.
“Evidently, as the lockdown is relaxed, small traders and wage labourers spring back into their trade fairly quickly. It is much easier for these to get back their employment because they are essentially self-employed. When the environment does not allow them to work — as during a lockdown — they lose employment instantly but when there is no lockdown, they quickly get back into their trade,” Vyas said.
Source: ThePrint
