Labor market improving but still not as good as pre-Covid | News from India

NEW DELHI: The work under the flagship Rural employment programme MGNREGS in the first four months of this financial year is still 13 crore Person days higher than in the corresponding period 2019-20, the year before the pandemic, suggesting that the Employment scene is still far from normality. However, the work done up to July 2024-25 is 23 million person-days lower than in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, according to statistics from the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
The financial year 2019-20 is considered a normal year under MGNREG because the employment pattern followed the predictable variables Work requirementsbefore it was turned on its head by the pandemic, which led to a national lockdown and a shutdown of the economy. The emergency employment program saw a record increase in demand for jobs.
Work done in 2020-21 shot through the roof with a record of over 389 million person days. It declined marginally to just over 363 million in 2021-22 and further to around 294 million in 2022-23. The improvement, with a decline in MGNREGS work done, was expected as the economy picked up with the lifting of lockdown, leading to the return of workers to their traditional employment centres.
The person-days generated between April and July in the year 2024-25 will be 127.9 crore, as against 150.2 crore in the same month in the year 2023-24. In comparison, 114.8 crore person-days were recorded in the year 2019-20.
Crucially, the 150 crore person-day mark in April-July last year was unexpectedly high, given that the lockdown had been lifted over two years ago. Person-days in 2023-24 ended the downward trend and rose to 308 crore.
The budget allocation for 2024-25 is over Rs 19,000 crore less than the expenditure for the 2023-24 programme, but could be enough to meet the labour demand if the current trend continues. However, civil society experts working on the ground say that the introduction of a national mobile monitoring software to record attendance has hurt workers and helped reduce demand, as has the Aadhaar-based payment system.