Restrictions on daily life have led to the closure of many companies and the laying off of workforce - either permanently or temporarily. The coronavirus pandemic has definitely affected the workforce community worldwide, however the most affected group is the women workforce, according to various analysis reports. At least four out of ten women in India lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic, reveals an analysis of the latest Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) data. An estimated 17 million women have been left jobless, in both the formal and informal sectors, between March and April 2020, owing to the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of novel coronavirus. A large number of start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) witnessed reduction in their workforce in the last eight months, with 31 percent of them reducing their women workforce, as the covid-19 pandemic impacted their business and revenue adversely.
Per CMIE, six million Indians had already lost white collar jobs in the March – August period. LocalCircles conducted a survey to understand the startup & MSME pulse on their workforce adjustments due to COVID, especially focusing on how employment of women has changed in their business and how does the hiring outlook look as far as hiring of women in the next 6 months. The survey received over 7,000 responses from startups, MSMEs and entrepreneurs spread across 104 top business districts of the country.
According to the survey, it is founded that 25 percent of the start-ups and MSMEs said their business has shut down and all workforce has been let go, 15 percent said their workforce has reduced by 50 percent or more, 19 percent said their workforce has reduced by 25-50 percent, and another 19 percent said their workforce has reduced by up to 25 percent. Only six percent said their workforce has increased while 16 percent have the same workforce as pre-covid times.
But, now the situation is improving, as a bunch of startups and MSMEs claim that over the next six months they will ramp up hiring and employ women in their business. While 30 percent said they plan to hire 1-5 women employees, 13 percent said they plan to hire 6-10 women employees, seven percent were unsure about hiring women and 50 percent said that said they don't plan to hire any women employees. The government also took steps to help these small businesses through the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, but its advantages per feedback from businesses in July this year has been quite limited.
In 2017, the Indian Government passed the Maternity (Amendment) Bill that increased the right to paid maternity leave for working women from 3-6 months – the third highest in the world. Although this was great news for nursing mothers, a ripple effect of this decision was noticed in many small businesses who reduced hiring of women in their organizations, purely due to financial reasons and the cost of funding maternity leave benefits.
“So while the last eight months of the pandemic have been tough from the perspective of new employment of women with small businesses, the six month outlook does look a bit better. With growth coming back in many sectors, and given that Work from Home has become a new normal for many of the technology driven businesses and for white collar jobs, even in traditional businesses, it is likely to help more women find job opportunities in the coming months” states the report.
