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Manufacturing jobs witness a massive decline in the past five years
According to the reports by the CMIE, manufacturing jobs in 2020-2021, in India, have been halved of what it was five years ago.
With the second wave of the coronavirus at its peak, the Indian economy is witnessing another year of a complete grim state. For the year 2020-2021, the growth of India’s GDP is -8%. Over the past year, India has witnessed a massive loss of employment due to the pandemic. It has rendered thousands of people without jobs and has pushed them towards a state of poverty.
According to the survey conducted by the State of Working India (SWI) in 2021, when the pandemic hit India, the Indian economy was already facing the most extended slowdown in recent decades. After the lockdown, it further intensified these issues, leading to a decline in income levels and a sudden increase in poverty. It also stated that women and young workers were worse affected. After the lockdown in 2020, about 61% of the working men went back to work, and only 7% of them suffered from a loss of employment. But after the second lockdown, only 19% of the working women went back to their jobs, and about 47% of them lost their jobs during the pandemic. Most families were dependent on government relief projects and support programs.
Jobs in the real estate and manufacturing sector also witnessed a massive decline in employment in 2020-21. According to reports, the manufacturing sector employs 17% of India's gross domestic product (GDP). From employing 51 million people in 2016-17, it declined to 27.3 million people in 202-21. This shows a massive drop of 46% within five years, which indicates the severe condition of manufacturing jobs in the country.
The government launched its "Make in India" project in the year 2014. Under this campaign, the government aimed to create an additional 100 million manufacturing jobs by 2022 and increase the manufacturing sector's GDP contribution to 20% by 2025. But the campaign is unable to generate its objectives. Over the years, there have been no massive manufacturing projects or investments in the country hence, this sector is unable to generate jobs for its employees.
The pandemic has played its part in weakening the manufacturing sector, but, the employees in the manufacturing business have already been suffering from job loss for quite a long time. Data reveals that the Indian business industry does not have surplus funds to invest in the manufacturing business. Business owners are not confident enough to invest in any venture that yields uncertain results.
According to the CEDA-CMIE survey, agriculture, mining, real estate, and construction, manufacturing, public administrative services, automobile industries account for about 99% of the total employment. But contrary to manufacturing, agriculture is producing more jobs over the past few years than the manufacturing sector. From 1.7% in 2019-20, employment in agriculture has witnessed growth up to 4.1% in 2020-21.
According to these data and information, we can acknowledge that India's manufacturing sector has been suffering from acute loss of employment. Jobs lost during the pandemic have driven thousands of employees towards poverty. The manufacturing industry has especially suffered from massive loss of employment and pandemic has worsened the situation.