State of Working India 2021 Report: One Year of Covid-19

"The Covid-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented hardships for Indian households. The severe supply and demand shock came on the heels of one of the most serious economic slowdowns in recent history and has led to losses in employment and earnings, increase in informality and food insecurity, and a rise in poverty and inequality. As we meet the challenge of the second wave it is all the more imperative to learn from the experience of 2020. Who was impacted and how? What worked and what didn’t? Did the social safety-net work for the most vulnerable households? What should be the way forward? We explore all this and more in the report. The report has chapters on the pre-Covid situation, impact on employment, informalisation and labour earnings, impact on households, India’s social protection infrastructure heading into the pandemic, social protection during the pandemic and the way forward."

This report documents the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty. It also examines the effectiveness of policy measures that have thus far been undertaken to offer relief and support. Finally, it offers some policy suggestions for the near and medium-term future.

State of Working India 2021: One year of Covid-19

Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University (2021)