May 31, 20212 min read

97% Indians become poorer; salaried jobs are falling post COVID-19: Report

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be impacting jobs in India. It is reported that there has been a drop in the number of salaried jobs in India largely. In addition, 97 per cent of Indians have witnessed depreciation in their income as well, stated a report.

According to Mahesh Vyas, chief executive officer, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), over 97 percent of India's population has become poorer compared to where they were in terms of income (a year ago) while accounting for inflation.

"When we ask people in our survey, how's their income today compared to a year ago, only 3 per cent tell us today that their income is better than a year ago; about 55 percent tell us categorically that it is worse than a year ago, and the remaining tell us that it is no better, no worse," stressed Vyas. “I think that is a big damaging factor.”

Vyas said salaried jobs in India have declined by 11-12 million. He stated that pre-COVID-19, there were around 85 million jobs and now that has dropped to around 73-74 million today.

According to India Spend, Vyas said, "India had 403.5 million jobs before being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, about 126 million jobs were lost of which about 90 million were those of daily wagers. The figure recovered and reached 400 million jobs in January 2021 or December 2020. However, after the second wave, India has 390 million jobs."

Raising concern about the quality and number of salaried jobs, he said not everyone has got their job back and those who have got their jobs back have not necessarily got the same quality job. Salaried jobs are still falling. The situation is worse off, he added.

According to SBI Research analysis of EPFO payroll data, it was found that net job creation in the economy fell by 16.9 lakh in FY21 over the previous fiscal. However, the FY21 numbers are better than the FY20 net job creation, which had declined by 28.9 lakh, further cementing the view that the economy is not creating new employment opportunities.