32 lakh salaried Indians lost jobs in July, shows CMIE data

But the urban jobless rate has declined to 8.3% in July from 10.7% in June

At least 32 lakh salaried Indians lost jobs in July alone amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, although the overall unemployment rate has fallen by more than 2 percentage points month-on-month, showed data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

In the past two years since July 2019, nearly one crore salaried people have been rendered jobless.

According to the latest CMIE data, 8.6 crore people had salaried employment in 2019, which has been reduced to a little over 7.6 crore now.

Though several urban salaried employees lost jobs, the urban jobless rate has declined to 8.3% in July from 10.7% in June.

Earlier, the CMIE had suggested that in general, urban men lost more jobs than women during the second wave of the pandemic. This implied a total loss of livelihood for millions of Indian households. Many urban women had lost jobs during the first wave.

Usually, urban male jobs are better quality jobs and their disproportionate loss could imply a greater fall in income than witnessed so far, CMIE MD Mahesh Vyas had said.

In his latest analysis, Vyas said, "India's economic recovery from Covid-19 shocks is V-shaped. The recovery is rapid but it peters out before it is complete. Every shock, it seems, leaves a little transaction cost behind. India can, therefore, choose to celebrate the rapid recovery from the excruciating pain of lockdowns or bemoan the steady erosion of well-being and growth potential."

Economists have cautioned that the slow pace of vaccination and a decline in consumer demand could hit India's growth prospects and that the economy is unlikely to grow to pre-Covid size before March 2022.