50 lakh people lost jobs since demonetisation in 2016, job report reveals

Since the 8 November 2016 demonetisation, an estimated 5 million people have lost their jobs, according to a report titled, “State of Working India 2019”, based on research conducted by the Centre for Sustainable Employment (CSE) at the Azim Premji University. The reiterates that joblessness has been on a steady rise over the past decade but it accelerated after demonetisation.

The report revealed that an estimated 50 lakh people lost their jobs between 2016 and 2018. The acceleration in unemployment began with the demonetisation of November 2016. The report, however, makes it clear that “no direct causal relationship can be established based only on these trends”.

The researchers have used the data on the national labour market from the Consumer Pyramids Survey of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE-CPDX). CMIE is an independent economic think tank based out of Mumbai. CMIE surveys about 160,000 households every four months.