Five lakh people were rendered jobless between October to December 2008 due to the recession, according to the latest government study. The findings are part of a first of its kind survey conducted by the Labour Bureau of ministry of Labour and Employment as part of a study on the effect of economic slowdown on employment in India.

A sample size of 2581 units covering 20 centres across 11 states was taken up for the survey. Eight major sectors like textile and garment industry, metals and metal products, Information Technology and BPO, automobiles, gems & jewellery, transportation, construction and mining industries were also included in the survey.

The total employment in all these sectors had come down from 16.2 million in September 2008 to 15.7 million by December 2008. Exporting units had observed a higher decline in employment with gems & jewellery sector shedding 8.43 per cent of its work force.

This is followed by metals and textile sector which laid off 2.6 per cent and 1.29 per cent of their work force respectively. Among the domestic sector units, gems & jewellery sector again witnessed the maximum decline in employment with 11.9 per cent of their work force losing jobs.