NRI alert: India facing job crisis, says report

Jobseekers are perhaps facing the worst of times in India, according to a report published by Economic Times, the country’s leading business daily.

The reports suggest that many jobseekers have been out of jobs in the country and some have been working in companies without pay for several months.

It’s an all-round squeeze the report says, stressing there is no particular industry that can be said being in a hiring mode.

“India, the world's second-most populous country and home to the world’s second largest workforce (469 million workers), has a problem. Sure, the ongoing economic slowdown and the accompanying woes — rising inflation and interest rates, a weakening rupee and stalled investments — will inevitably take its toll on jobs,” said the report.

The daily conducted a poll which shows that this could perhaps be the worst job market since liberalisation in terms of severity, duration, sweep and scale.

The poll reveals that a majority of the respondents fear losing their jobs. “Almost three-fourths of them don’t fancy a chance of getting a job offer from a firm in the sector they’re currently employed in. And perhaps the worst manifestation of the despondency is that 63 per cent either do not expect or are unsure whether the job market will improve in the next 12 months,” the report read.

As companies tighten their belts, many have frozen hiring but, worst still, are sacking employees.

“I lost my job and have been on the lookout ever since. I’ve got some calls but nothing has substantiated so far. Many of my colleagues have lost their jobs,” said an executive in the once shining telecom industry.

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