In US, there has been a job cut yet again in July for the 7th successive month. With the current trend continuing, it is obvious that those without a job would find it even more difficult to find a new job. In US there are approximately 1.7 million people without a job. The rate has now fallen a full percentage from last year figures. What these figures do not include is the number of people who has moved to part time jobs or people who are not willing to work with the current job scenario. Had that also been included, the numbers would have been even more depressing.
Sectors like Construction, Manufacturing, and Retail indicate heavy job losses. Also people are putting in fewer hours so that they could take up part time jobs to earn more. CEO’s of some of the largest firms believe that there aren’t many signs that suggest that things could change for the better in the coming months. Automakers also showed major cost cutting by reducing work force by 4000 jobs this month. There were never ending problems seen in newspaper, magazine and airlines companies as well. What such a job scenario brings is with it is the reduction in bargaining power when it comes to job offers, which have reduced as well.
In India also, the situation is far from what could be called normal.IT companies have cut down on the workforce showing the exit door to less efficient resources. Companies are looking out for “cheap labor “and people with experience are suffering.One of the IT firms in Bangalore have in fact fired many of their top level managers and trusted the responsibility on the shoulders of less experienced and cheaper resources. The idea was to cut down on costs. Would they be able to deliver is another question.
A study in India shows that by 2020, India would have more than 30% people unemployed. This is a very worrying figure, as this would spell out more than 21 crore jobless people. If the trend continues, India would have a working population in 2020 equal to the total population in 1991, the year which started the economic reforms. All these factors could be disastrous for even an economically strong county like the US, I can only hope that the time s to come would be more prosperous and the wounds caused on the economy would heal as soon as possible.