5 lakh workers lost jobs in 3 months: Govt survey

A survey conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment states that in the last quarter — October to December 2008 — five lakh workers lost jobs, reports Prasad Nichenametla.

Here’s proof that the slowdown is taking away lakhs of jobs across India.

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A survey conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment states that in the last quarter — October to December 2008 — five lakh workers lost jobs.

The revelation comes a day after the commerce ministry said about 15 lakh people in the export sector will be jobless by March.

“Though we are asking the support of the banks and taking related measures, it is becoming difficult for the industry to cope up with the slowdown,” Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes said.

The survey conducted by the labour bureau is based on a sample of 2,581 units across six sectors - mines, textiles, automobile, transport, metals, gems and jewellery and IT-BPO — and 11 states. “Employment in the six sectors went down from 16.2 million during September 2008 to 15.7 million during December 2008,” the report said.

These badly-hit sectors contribute to more than 60 per cent of India’s GDP, thus slowing industrial growth.

“The most affected sectors were gems and jewellery, transport and automobiles,” the report said.

The data indicates that contract labourers are more vulnerable. In the contract category, those in the automobile sector were most hit with employment decreasing by 12.37 per cent.