JOB LOSS IN PANDEMIC : PLIGHT OF THE INDIAN SALARIED WORKERS

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered economic disruptions with heavy blow to the labour markets. Steep economic contraction due to lockdown has resulted in a huge amount of job loss in most emerging economies like India. This paper attempts to analyse the Indian job loss scenario from the dimensions of area of residence, gender, education and age. The conditions of the salaried workers have been analysed using CMIE data on employment over the time span of March 2020 to May 2020.A pronounced rural-urban divide has been found in the case of overall job loss scenario. Higher levels of education have been found to act as a shield against job losses. It is the rural youth who was found to be in a more challenging position than their urban counterpart. An increasing informalisation of the salaried workers have been noticed.