Abstract

The paper attempts to understand the effect of the pandemic COVID-19 shock on employment and the labour market in India by examining the vulnerabilities of the workforce using data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey for the year (2018-19). The paper is divided into six sub-heads and authors have analyzed the reports. Firstly, explaining the topic or explaining the whole idea about the topic i.e. according to different organizations like the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) who states that nearly 41 lakh youth in our country lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic which is a huge number. Monitoring the Indian Economy, unemployment rates in April and May 2020 stood at over 23%, which later on increased from a rate of 7% at the same time year 2020. Secondly, it talks about the global recession which has been seen in many countries especially the economic crisis in many countries. Thirdly, how the step of migration affected the whole employment thing in India. The largest number of migrants set off from the states of Bihar, UP, Bengal and Assam. I have mentioned bar data from Census 2011 which clears out the real image. Next, this pandemic showed its effect on micro-small and medium enterprises (MSME), specifically in retailing, tourism transportation, etc. Examining the vulnerability of India’s workforce according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS, 2018-19) requires everyone to understand the basic structure of the country’s workforce. Further determine the employee arrangement 90% of India’s workforce/ labour class is engaged in informal work arrangements.75% of the workforce was engaged in self-employment and casual wage employment. In India, the rate of unemployment in India was seen around six per cent. The authors have shown the n actual Distribution of Workers by Employment Status in 2018-19 in a table form where the age of workers is 15 plus. Now, to access the security benefits there is another parameter that enables us to understand the actual vulnerability of Regular Wage Salaried workers the degree of job security and their contract offers. Then there is sector-wise composition of the workforce according to ILO (2020) which has classified sectors based on their susceptibility to the ongoing crisis. To overcome these problems government have come up with different policies, benefiting the labour sector i.e. Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. Protection of low wage regular formal jobs in enterprises. Lastly, the conclusion which clearly states that ‘Yes’ COVID-19 crisis has increased the problem of high unemployment and weak aggregate demand that the Indian economy was grappling with even before the onset of the pandemic.

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