Note ban misery: Nobel laureate's unemployment warning unfolds in Ahmedabad

As Paul Krugman warned India of mass unemployment, and a leaked government report revealed that the male workforce shrank by 18 million over six years to 2018

“We don’t know when this misery will end.” It was two weeks since brothers and college dropouts Rajendra (33) and Devendra Chunara (34) had found work. Their slouched shoulders, tired eyes and worried faces betrayed their frustration.

Every day at 8 am, they stand with about 2,000 daily wage workers -- either in groups on the side of the road or, when they tire, sitting on the divider -- hoping to be hired for construction sites, loading, plumbing, electrical, anything.

At the Akhbar Nagar circle -- one of the largest of about 50 labour hubs in India’s 5th most populous city in