Among Delhi’s urban poor, unemployment biggest crisis, 76% were out of jobs during pandemic

The study tried to explore the occupational activities of slum residents in Delhi and found that 60% of the respondents were employed of which 33% were engaged in some kind of a job and 27% were running small businesses (Table 1). Close to one-fifth respondents (17%) were either not engaged in any work or were looking for a job.

Nineteen percent reported they were a homemaker and 4% were pursuing their studies. Two-fifths of the women (41%) were financially supporting their family of which 22% were doing a job and 19% had opened a small business. Among the men, over three-fourth (77%) were employed of which 43% were doing a job and 34% ran a small business.

On delving further, among those who were employed, a majority (33%) are primarily involved in small businesses like vegetable vending, small grocery shops, tea stalls, paan shops, small eateries, hawkers, street vendors, etc. Close to one-fourth (24%) reported to be skilled workers and 3% semi-skilled workers. A little over one in ten (13%) said that they earn their bread by working as service providers in the capacity of waiter, shop assistant, cook, dhobi, barber, beautician, newspaper person, housemaid and chowkidar. Fourteen percent reported to be working as tenant cultivators.

Around half of the respondents were daily wage workers with 52% receiving their wages daily as opposed to 38% who receive their remuneration on a month-end basis. Only close to one in ten (9%) reported that they get their earnings weekly. The work might be less exploitative as only 8% reported that they have to pay a commission from their earnings to someone. However, in terms of the number of working days, we see a different picture as more than half (57%) of slum residents work seven days a week and close to three in ten (27%) said they work six days a week.

On the subject of household income, the study found that close to three-fifth of the respondents (57%) said that their total monthly household income from all sources is Rs 10,000 or less, of which 20% of the households were earning Rs 6,000 or less and 16% were earning between Rs 6,001 to 8,000. Two in ten (21%) households stated a monthly income between Rs 8,001 to 10,000. A little over two in ten (22%) said they were between Rs. 10,001-15,000. Fourteen percent were earning up to Rs 25,000 and only 7% of the respondents claimed that their total household monthly income was more than Rs 25,000.

Only one in ten workers (9%) had a job or business which was associated with a union and among them, only one in five (21%) had membership of it. When working respondents were asked about their opinion on the need for unions at their workplace, over half (52%) reported that workers should have an organisation or union of their own. However, 38% felt there was no need for a union.

Unemployment and impact of pandemic

Unemployment emerged as the biggest difficulty for about a quarter (24%) of respondents followed by other concerns related to basic amenities. Furthermore, the Covid pandemic in which the poorest population was hit the hardest only intensified the already existing employment concerns among the urban poor. Three-fourth of the respondents reported having to give up their jobs (76%) and nearly one-fourth (24%) had to leave their jobs to start with some other work (Table 2). Further, around three-fifths (63%) of the respondents reported that they had to borrow money to sustain themselves.

Fifteen percent reported that they were compelled to return to their villages during the pandemic and 7% had to vacate their houses. This low figure of completely vacating houses could possibly be because these respondents are not new migrants to Delhi as 29% of them reported being born and brought up in Delhi and 57% reported having resided in Delhi for more than 10 years. The data reveals that 8% had received financial help and 4% job-related help from the government during the pandemic.

Asked about the one important step that the government should take for the benefit of slum dwellers, providing jobs and reducing unemployment emerged as the top most priority reported by the respondents (33%). This finding is consistent with the fact that most households had stated unemployment to be the biggest difficulty.

Where Delhi’s urban poor feel more secure

The views of the slum dwellers were divided when asked whether they would be willing to settle down in their village if they are given the same work and money as in Delhi. A little over two fifths (42%) were willing to settle in their village or town and over half (55%) the respondents said they would continue living here in Delhi (Table 3).

The study highlights a crisis of employment in Delhi with the majority of the slum dwellers stating this to be their biggest difficulty. The pandemic appears to have worsened the already existing jobs crisis for those in slums.

The writer is a Research Associate at Lokniti-CSDS, Delhi. For the study, 1,080 people spread across 55 slums covering all 11 districts of Delhi were interviewed using a structured questionnaire by means of face-to-face interview method. The interviews were conducted by trained field investigators for three months (November 2021 to January 2022).