Salaried employees struggle to earn living even after unlock; only 5.5% of lost salaried jobs come back

Nearly 1.8 crore salaried employees lost their jobs in the months of April and May respectively, but there was a recovery of only 39 lakh salaried jobs in June. (Bloomberg image)

As India gradually steps out of the nationwide lockdown and the lost jobs return, salaried employees are still struggling to earn a living. After the Modi government imposed lockdown restrictions in the last week of March, 12.2 crore jobs were lost in April. Later, as the restrictions eased, 2.1 crore jobs came back in May and 7 crore jobs returned in the month of June 2020, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). However, out of the 7 crore jobs that returned in June, only 5.5 per cent were for the salaried employees, even as salaried jobs account for 21.3 per cent of all jobs.

Nearly 1.8 crore salaried employees lost their jobs in the months of April and May respectively, but there was a recovery of only 39 lakh salaried jobs in June, which is the lowest increase in jobs. CMIE added that it is important that quality jobs also improve at the same pace if not a better pace than the other types of jobs.

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From the level of around 23.5 per cent in the months of April and May, the unemployment rate significantly improved to nearly 11 per cent in June. Out of the 7 crore jobs that came back in June, 4.45 crore were those of small traders and wage labourers, which signifies that over 63 per cent of the jobs that came back were of informal forms of employment. For the small traders and wage labourers, it is comparatively easier to regain employment as they are essentially self-employed. However, it is not necessary that their incomes too rebound to the pre-corona levels. 

Meanwhile, jobs in farming have been constantly rising even as all kinds of jobs had been lost during the lockdown. Surprisingly, the rate of increase in farming jobs has been rising too. In the month of May, employment in farming increased by 14 lakh on-month, while it shot up by 1.2 crore in June over May.