1.89 crore salaried Indians lost jobs since April, around 50 lakh only in July, says CMIE

New Delhi: The number of salaried people losing their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic has surged to 1.89 crore since April, with around 50 lakh jobs lost last month, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The loss of around 50 lakh jobs in July comes after around 39 lakh jobs were gained in June, as per the data. In April, 1.77 crore salaried jobs were lost, followed by 1 lakh job losses of salaried employees in May.

“While salaried jobs are not lost easily, once lost, they are also far more difficult to retrieve. Therefore, their ballooning numbers are a source of worry,” the centre`s CEO Mahesh Vyas said.

“Salaried jobs were nearly 19 million (190 lakh) short of their average in 2019-20. They were 22 per cent lower than their level in the last fiscal year,” he added.

The latest CMIE data also showed that around 68 lakh daily wage earners lost their jobs during this period. However, around 1.49 crore people took to farming during this period.

Since the lockdown was announced, several companies across sectors have taken to job cuts, along with salary reductions and leave without pay.

Industry bodies and several economists have called for government support to industry to avoid mass job losses and for the companies to survive the onslaught of the pandemic.