How did employment improve during Covid? https://www.fortuneindia.com/opinion/how-did-employment-improve-during-covid/108883 By Prasanna Mohanty, Jul 11, 2022 |
Contrary to visible evidence and numerous studies, PLFS 2020-21 says employment rate (WPR) and labour participation (LFPR) went up and unemployment rate (UR) went down during July 2020-June 2021
The PLFS of 2020-21 shows remarkable improvements in the key employment numbers during the pandemic. It covers the period of July 2020 and June 2021 – the period of unlocking and far more devastating second wave – and shows improvements from the corresponding period of 2019-20 This distress in employment has been reflected in a spike in demand for menial, low-paying – below the minimum wage of states – MGNREGS work.
All this evidence points to the fact that when the future generation looks at the PLFS of 2019-20 and 2020-21 they would assume continuation of the earlier trends in all three key employment numbers – WPR, LFPR and UR – during the pandemic. The migration to low-paying jobs and fall in wages are also trends set before the pandemic hit. Surreal indeed.