As reported by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CIME), about 21 MN salaried employees lost their jobs during April-August, with about 3.3 Mn jobs being lost in August and 4.8 Mn in July. These job losses are not only confined to blue-collar salaried employees but also include industrial workers and white-collar employees.

Salaried jobs in August came down to 65 Mn from 86 MN in the country in the full year of 2019-20. “The deficit of 21 Mn jobs is the biggest among all types of employment. About 4.8 Mn salaried jobs were lost in July and then in August, another 3.3 Mn jobs were gone,” the CMIE said.

As per the monthly CMIE data, the unemployment rate of the country rose to 8.35 percent in August from 7.40 percent in the previous month. Urban unemployment rate inched higher to 9.83 percent in August from 9.37 percent seen in the previous month, while rural unemployment rate increased to 7.65 percent in August from 6.51 percent in the month-ago period, the CMIE data showed.

“The unemployment rate, which has been falling so far after April, increased from 7.4 per cent in July to 8.4 percent in August. This is a significant jump. As a result, the employment rate fell from 37.6 percent to 37.5 per cent in the same period,” it said.

The CMIE said salaried jobs are getting impacted the most during the ongoing economic growth contraction. Salaried jobs do not seem to grow in tandem with economic growth, or even with an increase in entrepreneurship.

Salaried jobs extend beyond those provided by such organizations including people employed by households on a salaried basis such as maids, cooks, chauffeurs, gardeners, guards which comprise the informal salaried jobs. All salaried jobs put together account for 21-22 percent of total employment in India.

Farming has been the last resort for people who lost jobs during the lockdown, with employment in farming rising by 14 Mn by August as against 111 Mn employees during 2019-20. Employment as entrepreneurs had declined earlier in the lockdown but by August, it increased by nearly 7 Mn from 78 MN, the CMIE said.

Daily wage labourers also were impacted, accounting for 91 MN of the 121 Mn jobs lost during April. By August, it recovered to, now, have a deficit of a little less than 11 million jobs from 128 Mn jobs in 2019-20, it said.