Private companies are also competing with government incentives for rural opportunities such as free food, fuel, cash transfers and promise of jobs
Factories are offering a host of incentives such as free food, housing and travel tickets to lure rural migrant workers back to cities as economic activities pick up. Many are also hiring and skilling locals to meet labour demands.
Migrant workers flocked back to their villages after the Centre imposed a lockdown and shut all private companies and factories to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, industries are giving benefits such as food and housing, and free travel back to work areas to attract workers, Mint reported.
VV Benugopal, Country Manager with Linfox Logistics India told the paper the company is offering food and arranging for workers transportation besides “skilling a new workforce to mitigate delays in return of the migrant labour.”
The Centre has now initiated Unlock 2.0 and industries are struggling with a labour shortage. Private companies are also competing with government incentives for rural opportunities which include free food, fuel, cash transfers and promise of jobs, it added. Savings on rent are also making migrants reluctant to return as they can now take home most earnings.
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The labour shortage is going to impact timely completion of construction projects, pointed out Rajan Bandelkar, president of the National Real Estate Development Council – Maharashtra. He said they are “trying to bring back the workers, including by air,”
On the whole, efforts seem to be working. Trains leaving Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – home to the largest migrant worker populations are running at full capacity. The unemployment rate for June has also dropped to 11 percent, compared to April’s 23 percent, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed.
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