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| 172,000 lost jobs in Q1 |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Aug 08, 2009, 01:00 IST |
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Regular jobs continue to be a casualty of the economic slowdown, with 172,000 workers losing jobs between April and June 2009. At the same time, the number of contract workers climbed by 40,000, says the latest survey findings of the Union labour ministry
Ministry officials note this is a period which demands workers for agricultural harvesting and yet there was an increase in contract workers in the various sectors covered by the survey.
The total loss of jobs taking both these figures into account was 132,000 in the period. The survey also reveals a fall in earnings parallel to loss of jobs in various sectors. Only the gems and jewellery sector has seen earnings going up, perhaps owing to overtime payments, the survey says.
A survey for the previous three months by the Labour Bureau had found a loss of 250,000 jobs as against a loss of 500,000 in the previous quarter, when the slowdown first began to show its impact on export demands. While 477,000 jobs were lost between October to December 2008, only 277,000 jobs were lost in the following three months.
In fact, the survey says there was an increase in jobs by 250,000 in these three months. It also showed an increase in regular jobs by 0.68 per cent, while contract jobs remained steady. However, subsequent months have shown losses for regular jobs.
The third quarterly report on the effect of the economic slowdown on employment in India for the quarter April to June 2009 has been brought out by revisiting the 3,003 establishments which were covered in the previous quarterly survey.
While there is an overall employment fall by 131,000 over March 2009 on a month to month basis, it declined by 38,000 in April and 157,000 in May, while it increased by 64,000 in June.
The overall decline in employment in exporting units has been found to be 167,000 as compared to increase in employment in non-exporting units by 35,000.
The sectors which have been most affected are export oriented units, especially in textiles, IT/BPO and gems and jewellery, where the overall employment has declined by 152,000, 48,000 and 23,000, respectively, during the quarter April to June 2009.
The ministry said the decline in employment in the exporting units in textiles and gems and jewellery sectors is not unique to this year.
This shortage is experienced during the period every year, as migrant workers prefer to visit their place of origin for harvest-related activities.
The survey says the decline in regular workers was seen in textiles, metals, gems and jewellery, transport and IT BPO sectors.
In the metals sector, it said the decline in employment of direct workers is associated with the increase in employment of contract workers during the same period. It implies that the sector is offering more jobs to contract workers, it says.
Similarly in the automobile sector, the overall increase in employment during April-June over March 2009 is estimated at 23,000, in which only 6,000 are directly employed workers.
Overall, 40,000 contract workers were added during April-June over March 2009.
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