'5 lakh jobs lost to recession in India'

New Delhi, Feb 4: A latest government study shows that about 5 lakh people were rendered jobless between Oct 2008 to Dec 2008 due to the ongoing global economic recession.

The findings were revealed in a survey conducted by the Labour Bureau of Union Ministry of Labour and Employment as part of a study on the effect of global economic turmoil over on employment in India. A sample size of 2581 units covering 20 centres across 11 states was taken up for the survey. Eight major sectors like textile and garment industry, metals and metal products, Information Technology and BPO, automobiles, gems & jewellery, transportation, construction and mining industries were also included in the survey.

The survey noted that the total employment in all these sectors had come down from 16.2 million in Sep to 15.7 million by Dec 2009. It was the exporting industry that witnessed a greater decline in employment with the gems and jewellery sector cutting 8.43 pc of its workforce. This is followed by metals and textile sector which laid off 2.6 per cent and 1.29 per cent of their work force respectively.

Meanwhile in the domestic sector again it was the gems and jewellery sector which witnessed maximum decline in employment with 11.9 pc of their work force losing jobs. Automobile sector lost 4.79 pc of its workforce, while transport sector shed 4.03 pc.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)