Demonetisation hits jobs of daily wagers, contract workers

The government’s demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November last year affected job creation among daily wagers and contract workers, even as regular jobs continued to grow, shows the latest official survey of enterprises, issued by the Labour Bureau.

During January-March 2017, job creation stood at 185,000 against 122,000 in October-December 2016 and 32,000 in July-September 2016, according to the Bureau’s fifth quarterly report on employment. The report covers eight sectors – manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, accommodation and restaurants, information technology (IT), education and health. These constituted 81 per cent of all employment provided by enterprises with a workforce of more than 10 each.

The survey showed regular jobs rose by 197,000 in January-March 2017, compared with job creation of 139,000 the previous quarter. However, the pace among contract workers slowed to 26,000 in January-March, against 124,000 in the previous quarter. Casual workers — getting wages on a daily basis — declined by 53,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016-17. The fall was a bit slower than a drop of 152,000 the previous quarter.

Experts said that there was a shift in the nature of jobs, instead of job loss, after the government decided to demonetise  currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 on November 8 last year.

“In the organised sector, there was an uptick in employment of fulltime workers who were paid by cheques or through bank accounts but the number of contract and casual workers, paid by cash, declined during this phase,” said Pronab Sen, country director, IGC’s India Central Programme and former chief statistician to the government.
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