Title: Effect of COVID-19 on migrant workers' income in India's manufacturing sector

Authors: Dhirendra Bahadur Singh; Ravi Kumar Gupta

Addresses: Humanities and Management Science Department, Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India ' Humanities and Management Science Department, Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: India experienced a COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, causing a 1.3 billion lockdown, severely impacting the migrant workers of the manufacturing sector, 122 million job losses, and a declining standard of living. This paper examines the economic vulnerability and the impact of COVID-19 on the income of internal migrant workers in manufacturing units in Uttar Pradesh, India. Data from 385 informal workers were collected, with 145 being in internal migration. The economic vulnerability of migrant workers lies in the manufacturing sector. More than 80% of migrant workers are at a high level of economic susceptibility. At the same time, the percentage of inter-state migrants is higher on the high level of the vulnerability index. Unemployment for more than six months was higher in intra-state migrants, and over half of the migrant workers were infected by the virus, resulting in daily wage losses. The study highlights the need for specific interventions to address these issues. Social protection systems, more job possibilities, equitable wages, and improved health and safety should all be priorities for policymakers.

Keywords: COVID-19; migrant workers; informal workers; income loss; economic vulnerability index; EVI; manufacturing sector.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEF.2025.147218

International Journal of Electronic Finance, 2025 Vol.14 No.3, pp.317 - 334

Received: 12 May 2023
Accepted: 27 Jul 2023
Published online: 14 Jul 2025 *

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