‘Pandemic worsened labour issues in region’

Although Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the worker class in both Pakistan and India, the labour force in Pakistan remained better off than the labourers in India as the former did not opt for imposing curfews to contain the spread of the disease.

Economist Anjum Altaf said this on Saturday as he participated in a webinar titled ‘New Understanding on Labour, Post Covid-19’ held by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences. He discussed the post-Covid-19 labour situation in the two countries with Indian economist Dr Amit Basole, a faculty member at the Azim Premji University in India.

Dr Basole said that setting aside the last two years, India’s real GDP growth remained at 5 per cent and above in the last 20 years but the employment did not increase at the same rate. He pointed out that economists simultaneously observed increased GDP growth and increased unemployment in India.

Regarding the job security for women, the Indian economist said the workforce participation rate (WPR) remained very low for women as only 20 per cent of women had secured their jobs. He added that this situation was not only observed in India but also in other developing countries.

Dr Basole was of the view that the impact of lockdown was far worse for migrant workers who lost their informal jobs due to which the poverty rate increased. A major part of the population in India went below the national poverty line which is even low from the World Bank’s poverty line, he stated. He said that during the lockdown, huge reverse migration of labour was also observed in some states of India as the regional governments were unable to manage the crisis of joblessness. He added that a major part of Indian population survived on daily wages and the current pandemic had badly affected that class.

Altaf said the migrant workers faced similar troubles in Pakistan after the spread of Covid-19. However, he said the decision of the Pakistani authorities to go for smart lockdowns helped the labour class.