Thirty-four lakh salaried Indians lost their jobs in April as small and medium enterprises struggled to survive, unable to withstand the Covid second wave at a time they had not fully recovered from the pandemic’s first wave.
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a private research group, a total of 73.5 lakh jobs were lost in April, the unemployment rate rising to 7.97 per cent from 6.5 per cent in March.
CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas said the lockdowns and economic slowdown had devastated small enterprises in the rural areas.
“Last year, the economy suffered a major shock. Before it fully recovered, the second wave of Covid caused significant shock yet again,” Vyas said.
Experts estimate COVID-19 death toll in India at over one million
Millions of Indians continue to suffer as COVID-19 takes thousands of lives and new infections are recorded every day. On May 9, the country passed another grim milestone of almost 22.3 million coronavirus cases, after reporting 403,738 new cases in the previous 24 hours. The official death toll climbed by 4,092 to 242,362.
India, which has experienced 10 million new cases in the last four months, now accounts for 20.24 percent of all active cases and 7.12 percent of all deaths globally.
The figures find concrete expression in the grim news reports of frantic scenes at hospitals, overcrowded crematoriums and round-the-clock pyres burning in city after city across the country, including in the national capital, Delhi.
Work from home is new normal
Disruptions in economies and the labour caused by the COVID-19 pandemic situation have changed the workplace ecosystem across the globe.
| 7 May 2021 5:30 AM GMT
Disruptions in economies and the labour caused by the COVID-19 pandemic situation have changed the workplace ecosystem across the globe. Work from home has become more of a permanent feature for many employees. Experimentation such as 50 per cent or less attendance to reduce physical proximity to make offices safe during the COVID-19 pandemic has also led to governments and private entities adopting a hybrid work model. The hybrid work model requires splitting time between the office and home. In many states in India, currently grappling with the second wave of the pandemic, work from home has returned as the new normal. In some states, the government has ordered a hybrid work model dividing the weekdays equally for office work and remote work from home. In Assam, the office hours have b
This shows how the second wave of the pandemic has unleashed its wrath on the rural jobs market.
NEW DELHI – Rural India has erased gains made since October when Covid-19 cases had begun to decline to record 2.84 million job losses in April for the salaried class alone. This is expected to impact rural consumption.
Salaried people in India’s rural pockets stood at 27.87 million in April, down from 30.72 million in March, and 33.46 million in February, showed monthly data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Around 5.59 million salaried employees lost their jobs during April and March.
This shows how the second wave of the pandemic has unleashed its wrath on the rural jobs market. Job losses for the salaried class in India’s rural belt were almost four and half times more than the number of salaried jobs lost in urban pockets in April. Overall, 3.4 million salaried jobs were lost during the month.
Centre refutes CMIE s 8% unemployment rate claim
May 07, 2021
B.LINE: Migrant workers and families wait for transport to go to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, if non- availability of transport. , in New Delhi on 16.5.20.Pic:Kamal Narang - Businessline
B.LINE: Migrant workers and families wait for transport to go to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, if non- availability of transport. , in New Delhi on 16.5.20.Pic:Kamal Narang - Businessline×
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