How many jobs have we lost during lockdown? PMO seeks answers from ministries

Ministries of commerce & industries, heavy industries, MSMEs and textiles have been asked to furnish the data on unemployment by 15 June.

A labourer at work in Mumbai | File Photo: Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg

New Delhi: Staring at an impending countrywide unemployment crisis, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked several ministries to furnish exact data regarding job losses in their sectors.  

According to sources in the government, several ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, the Ministry of Heavy Industries, the Ministry of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and the Ministry of Textiles, have been asked to furnish the data to the PMO by 15 June.

“There have been reports of massive unemployment across sectors due to the national lockdown for two months…As the government starts the recovery process, it wants to take a stock of the exact magnitude of the crisis,” a source in one of the ministries, which have been asked for this data, told ThePrint. 

The PMO had requested for this data last month through an internal email, sources in two of the ministries confirmed.

“Ministries have to furnish data on both formal and informal job losses by 15 June…Since the economy is coming back on track now, this data should be vital,” said an official in another ministry that got the PMO mail.

ThePrint has approached the PMO spokesperson for a comment through WhatsApp and calls, but has received no reply yet. 

Govt looking at a national employment policy

ThePrint had earlier reported that a group of ministers (GoM) led by Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot had recommended framing a National Employment Policy (NEP) in the face of the Covid-induced economic crisis. 

The policy could be a vision document, which would provide a medium-to-long-term approach for an inter-sectoral strategy for employment and economic growth, an official had said.  

The NEP would explore ways of creating an enabling environment for creation of new enterprises and industries, which would create demand for workers on the one hand, and creating employability and supply of skilled workforce in the labour market system, on the other hand, the official had added.

According to the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), 27 million youth in the age group of 20-30 years have lost their jobs in April due to the lockdown.