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Real truth about low jobs in India
Updated On: 08 May, 2022 08:50 AM IST | Mumbai | Jane Borges
After the controversial CMIE report that said majority of country’s employable work force may have stopped looking for work, mid-day spoke to analysts and job eekers. And it looks like India’s job crisis might just be real
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Graphic designer Bhavana Phul, 43, moved from New York to Mumbai to be close to her ailing father. She says she hasn’t found a job that pays her well and offers her hybrid working. She has stopped working, and now spends time with her kids. Pic/Sameer Markande
Hu Shih Foong has had a tumultuous two years. The Mumbaikar was a restaurant manager with a leading Chinese eatery at Kemps Corner when the pandemic broke out in March 2020. The initial weeks of uncertainty led to permanent gloom when the restaurant decided to let go off its staff. Having worked in the hotel industry since 2008, Foong remembers being jolted by the sudden turn of events. With a family to look after, including a young son, who is now six-years-old, Foong took the next best job available “out of sheer desperation”. A friend who worked as an executive with a restaurant aggregator and food delivery company, suggested he join them. “For the next six months, I worked as a delivery boy. It seemed like the only option available to me,” he tells mid-day in a telephonic interview. “The initial week was difficult. I didn’t understand the system. It was a completely new area for me.” He, however, believed that the period of hardship would pass, once the lockdown was lifted. But, nothing changed, says the 42-year-old, who is of Chinese origin and goes by the name Daniel Hu in the hospitality industry. “Even though restaurants opened last year, they were running at half the strength. I kept trying, but nothing came my way. The situation hasn’t changed. There are very few jobs available at the managerial level, and if I do find them, I am expected to take a massive pay cut. My search [for a new job] has left me disappointed.” To tide through this lean period, Foong has taken on a consultation role, offering his expertise on project basis to restaurants and cloud kitchens, helping them plan their menus, infrastructure, and coordinating with architects on the layouts of these spaces. “I have taken up about four to five projects in the last year or so. See, it’s not like am not getting work, but there’s no satisfaction. It’s difficult to make ends meet [without a salaried job],” says Foong, who also has a personal loan to repay.
Santa Cruz resident Bhavana Phul moved back to Mumbai from New York with her family in 2017. She says that her job search has been so uninspiring that she has decided against looking for work. “I’d rather be twiddling my thumbs, watching Netflix or hanging out with my kids,” she says. Pic/Sameer Markande
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