50 lac men lost jobs since 2016: SWI Report

Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University released a report, ‘the State of Working India (SWI)’ which said that five million men lost their jobs between the years of 2016 and 2018. The report on India’s labour market is based on the Consumer Pyramids Survey of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE-CPDX). This survey is an ongoing nationally representative panel survey of around 1.6 lac households and 5.22 lac individuals, which is conducted every four months.

The report mentions that the decline in jobs coincides with demonetization in November 2016, however the report adds that no direct causal relationship can be established based only on these trends.

In fact, the report also mentions that in addition to rising unemployment among the higher educated, less educated workers have also seen job losses and reduced work opportunities since 2016.

Amit Basole, associate professor at Azim Premji University quoted in media reports that, “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).’’

The report has also highlighted that the unemployment rate has risen steadily post 2011. The report quotes, “the overall unemployment rate to be around 6% in 2018, double of what it was in the decade from 2000 to 2011. In addition to rising open unemployment among the higher educated, the less educated (and likely, informal) workers have also seen job losses and reduced work opportunities since 2016.”

In fact, among urban women, graduates are 10% of the working age population but 34% of the unemployed. The age group of 20-24 years is over-represented among the unemployed. Meanwhile, among urban men, this age group accounts for 13.5% of the working age population but 60% of the unemployed. Thereby as per the reports the women are much more affected than men. Women have higher unemployment rates as well as lower labour force participation rates.