The government's latest quarterly employment report is worrying. For one, employment in the nine surveyed sectors rose by a mere 2 lakh in April-June 2021. Perhaps it is more instructional to look at annual changes considering the second quarter of 2021 bore the brunt of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As on July 1, 2021, while total employment was 27 lakh higher from a year ago, employment in four of the nine sectors had fallen. Leading the way was financial services, where employment as on July 1, 2021 had nearly halved to 8.7 lakh from a year ago.