<p>COVID-19 is having an immense effect on global economic growth. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/world-bank-coronavirus-covid19-extreme-poverty/">recent</a> report&nbsp;from the World Bank estimates that the global economy could contract by between 5% and 8% in 2020, pushing 71-100 million people below the international poverty line of US$1.90 per day.</p>
                                <p>A related problem is the impact of the pandemic on employment and income across many sectors. One of these sectors is the higher education sector where thousands of students have been pursuing their education to earn a living and improve their way of life, apart from their contribution to national development and the economy.</p>
                                <p><strong>Unemployment</strong><br /><br />As in other parts of the developing world, unemployment is a serious challenge in India. Currently, nearly 22% of those who attend post-secondary education are unemployed. Several state governments have been compelled to clamp lockdown around April this year in different modes and schedules to contain the onrushing pandemic. Almost all the commercial establishments, industrial units, transport systems, school colleges even government offices except emergency services, have come under lockdown. Though good results have started coming in due to these lockdowns, on the other hand, the industries have started bleeding.</p>
                                <p>According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate will be around 12% at the end of May 2021 which translates into a loss of job by 1 crore people during the period due to the 2nd wave of corona pandemic. He also said that income of 97% households have declined since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. The unemployment rate stands at 12.4%, urban 15.1% and rural 11.2% on 3rd June 2021. We noted that small towns and rural areas were not very affected by COVID 19 pandemic last year. But during the 2nd wave, it has split over these areas also affecting employment situation. The manufacturing and engineering sectors have largely been affected by the lockdown during the 2nd wave. The index of actual hiring has come down from 132 in July-September, 2020 to 60 in January-March, 2021. Though the automotive and FMCG sectors in tier-2 cities have performed poorly, the recruitment situation in IT, Outsource, Technology, E-commerce, Pharma and Health Care sectors in metro and tier-1 cities have started showing some improvements. CIEL, has said that though the companies have the intent to hire in tier 2-3 cities, they have not been able to actually hire due to the spread of pandemic to these markets also. According to him, the gap between the intent of hiring and the actual hiring in these markets is 50%.</p>
                                <p>To discuss critical issues that is &ldquo;Ease of Doing Business-Discussing the Impact of Covid19 Scenario on Revenue and Employment Generation&rdquo; the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the knowledge architect of the corporate India, is organising a virtual meet on 13<sup>th</sup> Oct&rsquo;21 (11 am, 13<sup>th</sup> October&rsquo;21) in an online/virtual session.</p>
                                