PMID- 38034847
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20231202
IS  - 2279-9028 (Print)
IS  - 2279-9036 (Electronic)
IS  - 2279-9028 (Linking)
VI  - 12
IP  - 4
DP  - 2023 Oct
TI  - How a low income state of India managed the unemployment situation during 
      COVID-19? Lessons for future pandemic management.
PG  - 22799036231208425
LID - 10.1177/22799036231208425 [doi]
LID - 22799036231208425
AB  - BACKGROUND: The partial and complete lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 
      caused enormous economic and social disruptions throughout the world. India 
      witnessed the sharpest decline in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the 
      unemployment rate rose sharply in the first quarter of 2020-21. Odisha, one of 
      the low income states of India, has faced a steep rise in unemployment, with 
      lakhs of migrant workers returning to the state. This article attempts to examine 
      Odisha's unemployment situation compared to the low-income states of India as 
      well as with the national average during COVID-19. This also investigates to what 
      extent the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 
      provided relief to the people by providing short-term employment opportunities. 
      DESIGN: This is a descriptive study and is based upon repetitive cross sectional 
      secondary data on unemployment rate and labour force participation rate across 
      the low-income states of India. METHOD: The study used descriptive statistics to 
      analyze the secondary data from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) 
      and MGNREGA report. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) and unemployment 
      rate (UER) data were collected from the CMIE trimester reports. The information 
      related to number days of employment demanded and employment provided were 
      collected from the MGNREGA reports. Total time period was divided in to two parts 
      - 2017-19 pre pandemic period and 2020-2021 pandemic period. RESULTS: The 
      analysis of UER revealed that the unemployment situation in Odisha was better 
      than the low-income states and overall India. The UER during COVID-19 (Sep-Dec 
      2020 to Sep-Dec 2021) was lower than the pre COVID-19 level in Odisha (1.6% in 
      Sep-Dec 2020), compared to all India, where this was more than the pre-COVID-19 
      level (7.4% in Sep-Dec 2020). Odisha government had nearly doubled the employment 
      generation through MGNREGA during 2020-21.The state government undertook a number 
      of proactive measures - increasing wage rate, providing extra days of work in 
      vulnerable districts to address the unemployment situation during the pandemic. 
      CONCLUSION: The state government's effort to manage the livelihood crisis was 
      notable during the pandemic.. Proper implementation of the wage employment 
      programmes led to higher decline in the UER in Odisha compared to other states 
      These experiences can be emulated by other states or countries.
CI  - (c) The Author(s) 2023.
FAU - Rout, Sarit Kumar
AU  - Rout SK
AD  - Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
FAU - Meher, Ananda
AU  - Meher A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2020-1822
AD  - Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, Odisha, India.
FAU - Behera, Pallavi
AU  - Behera P
AD  - Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
FAU - de Broucker, Gatien
AU  - de Broucker G
AD  - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 
      Baltimore, MD, USA.
FAU - Kadam, Shridhar M
AU  - Kadam SM
AD  - Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20231127
PL  - United States
TA  - J Public Health Res
JT  - Journal of public health research
JID - 101580775
PMC - PMC10683399
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - COVID-19 pandemic
OT  - India
OT  - Odisha
OT  - government policy
OT  - health emergency
OT  - unemployment
COIS- The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the 
      research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
EDAT- 2023/11/30 18:45
MHDA- 2023/11/30 18:46
PMCR- 2023/11/27
CRDT- 2023/11/30 17:38
PHST- 2022/11/04 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/08/28 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/11/30 18:46 [medline]
PHST- 2023/11/30 18:45 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/11/30 17:38 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/11/27 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1177_22799036231208425 [pii]
AID - 10.1177/22799036231208425 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - J Public Health Res. 2023 Nov 27;12(4):22799036231208425. doi: 
      10.1177/22799036231208425. eCollection 2023 Oct.