How safe is your job? Covid-19 pandemic might put over 100 million jobs in India at risk

The Coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic is the worst pandemic of this century and perhaps the deadliest one among the all known to mankind so far. Besides the unimaginable health risks we are exposed to, the pandemic has also posed a great threat to the global economy, including India. In his latest address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic package of Rs. 20 lakhs crore to fight against the Covid-19 situation. India had never before faced such an economic threat neither had there been such financial support needed. With the probability of the fourth leg of the lockdown being announced soon, fear has gripped everyone. If we do not go out to work (not every profession can adapt to work from home) how will we get money to survive? And trust us, this nightmare is not going to end soon.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a leading industry association in India, carried out an online survey where around 200 CEOs from various sectors and industries participated. "The survey results indicate that a significant majority of the firms expect revenues to fall more than 10 per cent and profits to decline more than 5 per cent in both the current quarter (Apr-Jun 2020) as well as the preceding quarter (Jan-Mar 2020). The expectations of this sharp decline in both revenue and profit growth by domestic firms could foretell the significant impact of this outbreak on GDP growth," CII stated.

The CII report has also brought to light some scary facts about job loss in India. "On the jobs front, about 52 per cent of the firms foresee job losses in their respective sectors, resulting from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and the ensuing lockdown. While the proportion of jobs that are expected to be cut are quite staggered, a significant proportion of the firms (47 per cent) expect less than 15 per cent job losses, while 32 per cent of the firms expect to shed about 15-30 per cent of jobs once the lockdown ends," stated a PTI report. After taking into account the figures given by the CEOs across sectors, the numbers can be very scary because it translates to over 100 million job loss in the country!

It seems the gory picture predicted by the report is slowly becoming a reality. Employees of a certain hotel chain have been asked to take voluntary retirement from work (VRS) with very little offered on their plates that include medical benefits for a certain period and a month's salary in their accounts. Also, there were reports about how a few media houses have asked employees to go on leave without pay for an indefinite period. Also, given the situation, employees have started accepting their fate silently when they were asked to accept pay cuts. Pay cuts across industries varied from 5% to over 50%.

As per reports, the sectors and industries that are in dire straits include hospitality, retail, aviation, MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), agriculture etc. "Our hotel has been lying vacant during the peak season. We have no option but to seek help from the government for financial assistance because we are running on heavy loss," said an owner of a local hotel on conditions of anonymity.

It is very difficult to predict whose job is safe and whose isn't. It's very important that we stay prepared. It will be wise to avoid unnecessary expenses and buy things only that we need. Do not invest in anything that might be risky. Also, it's important to upgrade your skills and prepare yourself for a post-pandemic world where a lot of changes in the job market are expected'.