GURUGRAM: Notwithstanding the state government’s announcement to create around 1.5 lakh jobs this year, the impact of last year’s Covid-induced lockdown and the subsequent economic meltdown on employment has not yet tapered off. In fact, Haryana has recorded the highest unemployment rate in the country, as per the data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy for February 2021.
With a 26.4% unemployment rate, Haryana’s unemployment is nearly four times the national average — 6.9%. The spike in the unemployment rate comes after the state saw a considerable dip in the jobless figures in January 2021. In January, the unemployment came down to 17.7% from over 32% in December 2020. Economists and industries have attributed this to extreme volatility in the market.
A month-wise reading of the latest unemployment data by CMIE reveals that the employment scenario was subjected to market volatility throughout the year. While the unemployment peaked in April 2020 with a rate of 43.2%, the subsequent months did see some improvement. The unemployment, however, shot up again with August 2020 (33.5%) and December (32.5%) being the worst months.
CMIE’s managing director Mahesh Vyas said, “Haryana is one of the major industrial states with a significant amount of economic activity going on here. Thus, there are a lot of people migrating to the state, seeking jobs. However, the economic meltdown and inability of the state to pump in more public spending to help industries create more jobs have had a spiralling impact on the overall employment prospects in the state.”
“Throughout the year, the markets were unstable. When manufacturing did pick up marginally, unemployment came down. But as we see industrial output declining, it’s having an adverse impact on the labour market,” he added.
The unemployment picture in the state is reflective of the government’s inability to help the industries, particularly the MSMEs, to recover from the Covid shock, say industry owners.
Haryana Chamber of Commerce & Industry state president Vishnu Goyal said, “MSMEs have got no support from the government. Raw material prices have shot up and the ever-changing guidelines have made doing business in Haryana unsustainable. For instance, the government buys the electricity from outside for a price of Rs 2.5-Rs 3 per unit but we are charged Rs 11 and above per unit. Other than that, there’s no public spending to boost economic activity.”
Moreover, the reservation laws announced by the state have also led to negative sentiments in the services sector, which in turn is having a cascading impact on the employment prospects in the state. “The government is not learning from its mistake, rather making new ones to further worsen the situation. Job quota will have a devastating impact in the long run,” said an economics professor from a leading state university who didn’t wish to be named.
People in the IT industry are also worried that the 75% reservation bill will further increase unemployment in the state. “The quota system will be counterproductive. This will in turn reduce jobs,” said Vinod Sood, Nasscom, Haryana chair.
