The sudden outbreak of COVID-19-driven pandemic has ravaged the economy of the world in the form of toll on health and loss of employment. The unprecedented devastation has left the economies in a nose-diven state, with job losses for paid employees and self-employed and labor market disruption in the nature of reduced earnings and working hours, compounded through prolonged closure of different ongoing projects, which restricted mobility, reduced manpower in order to contain the deadly pandemic. Witnesses of layoffs, retrenchment, pay cuts, delayed promotions with increments are quite apparent adverse outcomes of the crisis. According to a survey by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the rate of unemployment has been amplified to 24% in mid-May 2020. The monstrous pandemic has wreaked havoc on the job landscape of the nation resulting in economic contraction and shrinking job opportunities wrapped with a sense of fear and uncertainty is palpable among professionals. The present study is an endeavor to quantify the actual impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the private sector employees of West Bengal, India. With sample respondents of 681, the study reveals that a significant segment of employees are severely challenged by the life-threatening virus especially the employees absorbed in private commercial establishments or factories where the sector of employment, nature of industry, or job profile denies the concept of “work from home.” The global outbreak has changed the job market almost overnight and seems to have long-lasting, game-changing ramifications with a number of sectors experiencing massive hit where jobs will be savagely cut.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19：引发私营部门员工恐惧精神病

由 COVID-19 驱动的大流行的突然爆发以健康损失和就业损失的形式蹂躏了世界经济。史无前例的破坏使经济处于急剧下降的状态，带薪雇员和个体经营者失业，劳动力市场因收入和工作时间减少而中断，各种正在进行的项目长期关闭，限制了流动性，加剧了这种情况，减少人力以遏制致命的流行病。裁员、裁员、减薪、延迟升职加薪等都是危机的明显不利结果。根据印度经济监测中心的一项调查，到 2020 年 5 月中旬，失业率已扩大至 24%。这场可怕的大流行对国家的就业形势造成了严重破坏，导致经济收缩，就业机会减少，充满恐惧和不确定性的感觉在专业人士中是显而易见的。本研究旨在量化 COVID-19 大流行对印度西孟加拉邦私营部门雇员的实际影响。该研究以 681 名受访者为样本，显示很大一部分员工受到威胁生命的病毒的严重挑战，特别是在就业部门、行业性质或工作概况否认这一概念的私营商业机构或工厂中工作的员工“在家工作”。全球疫情几乎在一夜之间改变了就业市场，而且似乎持续了很长时间，