Lockdown Impact on Employment

PC THOMAS :  Having no significant gains from the 40-days shutdown in India's fight to slow the spread of COVID-19, it has become necessary for the government to extent the lockdown by two more weeks from May 4. Stay safe and well at home!

The nationwide lockdown to fight Covid-19 pandemic is possibly going to bring about immense occupation misfortunes, pay cuts and stop on recruiting for job over the next few quarters, subsequently giving blues to India's troubled work story.

To share my story: I have been working as a Content Writer, producing contents for some companies.  As a result of the lockdowns, with no improvement in the business, the companies faced a number of challenges to sustain their business and as a result, hurrah!, I lost my job in the very first phase of lockdown.

Covid-19 crisis has adversely affected not only in my case and in similar ones, but also all the employment sectors across the country. The virus and the subsequent economic shocks have impacted the world of work across verticals. There is terrible news about the continuing spread of the virus and the delay in discovering effective vaccine to contain the Covid-19 virus has led most employees to vex about the job loss or salary cut.

With hardly any career openings in the market foreseen at least for the next few months and what happens after the lockdown is lifted, God alone knows! At least for now, there is no clarity on how long it would take for the companies to pick up.

It is commonly seen, as retail sales have dropped completely on account of the lockdown, automotive dealers encounter several challenges to revive their business. Hotel, travel & hospitality industry and other businesses of Gems & Jewellary, Handicrafts, Textile and garments, have been hit hard.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it is further witnessed that many companies have been cancelling interviews as there is lockdown in many parts of the country. However, some technology-oriented companies are hiring and conducting interviews by using alternative channels such as, Zoom, Skype etc., but there is no appointment taking place.

According to the latest assessment by the International Labour Organization or ILO, the economic and labour crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global joblessness by near 25-million. And if the impact continues for a few more months, however, there could be a tragedy of continuous job losses across different sectors in India. What a difficult time we are thrown into!