New Delhi: The ongoing elections in Bihar and upcoming elections in West Bengal next year have led to a large number of domestic helps, drivers, mall employees and factory workers returning home, triggering a shortage of workers in big cities across the country. Among the cities that are mostly affected include Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
According to The Economic Times, employers in these big cities are trying to lure workers with various incentives, be it bonuses, advance payments or attendance incentives. The most affected are sectors like construction, logistics, residential, and hospitality. Political parties are also promising them with jobs in their native places, land and freebies.
Political parties offering freebies
Speaking to the paper, an expert said that while various parties in their manifestos in Bihar have promised job opportunities, the ongoing lack of workers in big cities are just a temporary phase and everything will be normal soon.
There are strong demands for those working as packers, pickers, gig workers, loaders and drivers, who are a large chunk of the workforce who come from states like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
Bengaluru most hot city
Apart from Bihar, workers belong to West Bengal are also returning to their villages and cities due to the fear of being left out from the voters’ list. A large number of workers have started moving to their native places from big cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Among all big cities, Bengaluru hit the hardest with 25 percent of domestic staff on leave, the paper added further quoting Bluspring analysis.
Meenakshi Gupta Jain, from Helper4U, the platform that helps in hiring full-time or part-time helpers, observed that the same started during the Covid period, when workers started returning to their native places. The same is continuing, she added.
