The State of Working India (SWI) 2019 report, released by the  Azim Premji University reveals that five million individuals lost their jobs between 2016 and 2018.

The reason for the job loss has been primarily pointed at the implementation of demonetization in November 2016. However,  no direct causal relationship can be established. The report also found that in addition to rising unemployment among the higher educated, the less educated workers have also seen job losses and reduced work opportunities since 2016. 

The SWI report is based on the Consumer Pyramids Survey of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE-CPDX). CMIE is a Mumbai-based business information company with an independent think tank. This survey is an ongoing nationally representative panel survey of around 1.6 lakh households and 5.22 lakh individuals, conducted every four months.

The report also highlighted that urban women were most affected by job loss. Among the women, graduates are 10% of the working-age population but 34% of the unemployed. The age group 20-24 years is over-represented among the unemployed. Among urban men, this age group accounts for 13.5% of the working-age population but 60% of the unemployed.

Amit Basole, associate professor at Azim Premji University, was quoted sharing in media, "In the absence of official numbers from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the only other household survey available for us to take stock of the employment situation is the Consumer Pyramids Survey of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE-CPDX)."