50 Lakh Lost Jobs Since Demonetisation: Study

Bengaluru: Almost 50 lakh men lost their jobs between 2016 and 2018, a report published by the Azim Premji University has said.

The report said the “beginning of the decline in jobs” coincided with the government’s demonetisation exercise in 2016, “although no direct causal relationship can be established based only on these trends”.

The University’s Centre for Sustainable Employment in its ‘State of Working India 2019’ report said unemployment in the country has risen steadily since 2011. The overall unemployment rate was pegged at around 6 per cent in 2018, double of what it was between 2000 and 2011.

The report said unemployment is prevalent among those who have higher education and those in the age group of 20 to 24. This age group accounts for 13.5 per cent of the working population of urban men, but 60 per cent of the unemployed.

“In addition to rising open unemployment among the higher educated, the less educated (and likely, informal) workers have also seen job losses and reduced work opportunities since 2016,” the report said.

The report also concluded that women faced higher unemployment rates and lower labour force participation rates.

“After remaining at around 2-3 per cent for the first decade, the unemployment rate has steadily increased to around 5 per cent in 2015 and then just over 6 per cent in 2018,” the report said.

“During the entire time that the overall unemployment rate was around 3 per cent, the unemployment rate among the educated was 10 per cent. It has increased since 2011 (9 per cent) to around 15-16 per cent (in 2016),” the report said.