Gig work to work from anywhere: Job market trends in the Covid era

Here is a quick look at three such trends that capture changes in India’s job market in the era of Covid-19.

Business Desk, ETV Bharat: The tiny micro-organism called novel coronavirus has triggered shock waves and shattered the economy. As per the official estimate, Indian economy has shrunk by nearly one fourth during the April-June 2020 period and is expected to lose around 10% of its output in the current financial year.

While the world is coming to terms with Covid-19, top executives are back to boardrooms and are busy in redrawing manpower charts to keep the businesses afloat.

Against this backdrop, let us have a look at three such trends that became prominent since the pandemic.

‘Reverse Migration’

Migrants returning to their hometown

The Covid pandemic and resultant lockdowns have exposed fault lines in the country's labour management, especially the sorry state of unorganised workers.

Lakhs of workers employed in factories, construction sites, hotels and restaurants in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have become unemployed overnight and left for home on bare foot in the absence of transportation facilities.

No doubt, the situation has improved since the unlock phase in June, the workers are yet to see the pre-covid normalcy.

A survey published last August pointed out that as many as two-thirds of migrant workers who had left for home have either returned to cities or wish to do so in absence of skilled employment in villages.

Despite the increased allocations of Rs 40,000 for MGNREGA to meet growing job demand, the recent spike in rural unemployment rate from 5.86% in September to 6.90% in October 2020 (as per CMIE data) sets off alarm bells.

Gig Work

Gig economy

In one of its reports released last July, Harward Business Review stated that the gig economy sprung from the last recession. However, the phenomenon has become prominent during the current pandemic as businesses have resorted to mass retrenchment.

Essentially, gig work demands less skill set and unlike a regular employee, a gig worker has control over his working hours, place of work, etc.

Drivers working for transport aggregators like Ola, Uber, etc and delivery boys are part of the gig economy.

Besides gig workers, businesses showing inclination towards freelancers and contractual employees in view of a possible next wave of virus cases.

Work From Home to Work From Anywhere

Work from home

While Work From Home is not a new phenomenon in the corporate sector, its wide use by the Central Government for its employees during the lockdown period is rather unusual.

After tasting success, major firms like TCS, Wipro, etc have unveiled plans to extend the Work From Home model to post-covid period.

In fact, in July 2020, India’s largest lender SBI announced that it will build the necessary infrastructure to offer ‘Work From Anywhere’ for its employees. As per an estimate, this new model will save around Rs 1,000 crore for the company.

Analysts believe that the ‘Work From Anywhere’ model will democratise the job market and will benefit job seekers in tier-2 and other lower rung areas. Some industry observers also foresee that women participation will also get a boost under this model.