COVID19 IMPACT RISK FACTOR IN PRIVATE SECTOR JOB

Post-lockdown, the world of work won’t be what we used to know. For many, the uncertainty of livelihood would likely linger much longer, and be no less painful. We cannot yet pluck the future out of the crystal ball, and the future may yet hold surprises. But yes, in one of the better worst-case scenarios out there, more than 130 million Indian jobs are at risk for COVID-19 lockdown.

From end-March, most companies have resorted to one of these three decisions—sacking people, asking employees to go on indefinite leave without pay, and slashing salaries by as much as 85 percent. Emotional and distressing emails about jobs and wage cuts were dispatched from the corner rooms by CEOs to employees, some of whom had worked in the same companies for decades.

The most severely impacted sectors are aviation, travel, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, and automotive sectors. In the aviation sector IndiGo already announced pay cuts for its employees, VISTARA said that 30 percent of its workforce will take compulsory no-pay leave of one to three days. GOAIR has retrenched many of its expat pilots. Many international airlines that have operations from India like SINGAPORE AIRLINES have drenched to 96% of its scheduled capacity. It is also contemplating salary cuts and a voluntary no-pay leave scheme up to certain management positions. AIRBNB laid of nineteen hundred staffs. Several Indian start-ups, like DROOM, EXOTEL, and MAKE MYTRIP have started to cut jobs as the coronavirus pandemic has dented their financial prospects.

MINT predicted that about 136 million workers in India employed in non-agricultural sectors have no contracts and are the most vulnerable in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak. The services sector, which employs 144 million, most are white-collar employees. If we exclude government and other core private-sector jobs in services, the workforce totals around 100 million. About 30% of these jobs would be at risk. BAJAJ AUTO, India's third-biggest two-wheeler manufacturer, has asked its factory employees to take a 10 percent pay cut. INDIABULLS forcefully fired 2000 employees via WhatsApp calls and slashes 50% salary for others. OLA & UBER reduced fourteen hundred & seven hundred employees respectively. ZOMATO & SWIGGY sacked 520 & 1100 employees and salary cuts to remaining employees. RELIANCE INDUSTRIES announced pay cuts of up to 50% for some top oil-and-gas division employees and those earning more than Rs 15 lakh a year will face a 10% cut while senior executives will have to take 30% to 50% salary cuts.

The informal economy of jobs such as tour operators, drivers, guides, billing, customer service, operations, and micro retailers. For the formal sector (organized sector), employees with PF and other such benefits would also be impacted. Similarly, manufacturing, engineering, construction will shrink by about 70,000 jobs including the people working in unorganized sectors from April-June. Due to the lockdown in a huge number of districts, lakhs of people are losing their daily wages.

In the retail segment wholesale dealers are suffering and many of the temporary workers working in the wholesale market are expected to lose their jobs as they earn on a daily basis.

Over 1.5 lakh people across India’s various information technology firms are experiencing jobs losses, the sector’s reliance on exports to western markets has made it vulnerable, more than 75% of the industry’s revenues are sourced from exports to large markets like North America and Europe. The spread of coronavirus in these two markets has created ripple effects in the Indian IT industry.

The looming fear of layoffs, job losses, and salary cut consuming public sentiment every day. With no business activity, to ensure business continuity to have cash flows for avoiding liquidity crunch - deferment of pay, bonuses, and increments, or even not giving leave without pay, may pinch but they’re all leftover ways of cutting cost at this time for the all entrepreneurs.