Labour ministry asserts job employments and job growth on the uptick in past years

Tribune News Service

Ravi S Singh

New Delhi, April 28

Amidst concerns raised in some quarters, the Union Ministry has presented data to assert that job employments and job growth have been on the uptick in the past few years.  

It invoked the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation which indicate that the labour force and work force in the country increased steadily during 2017-18 to 2019-20.

On the other hand, Unemployment Rate declined during the corresponding period.

The data suggest increase in female labour force as well as female worker population ratio during the year 2017-18 to 2019-20 as compared to increase in male labour force and worker population ratio. 

The Economic Survey 2021-22 estimates indicate there was an increase of 4.75 crore in employment during 2019-20 as compared to 2018-19. 

The increase in labour force during 2019-20 as compared to the previous year was 4.52 crore.

Thus, during 2019-20, more employment was generated than the increase in labour force in the country. 

The quarterly PLFS reports for urban sector are available till September, 2021. The quarterly labour force data indicate that though labour force declined during the 1st wave of covid-19, however, with the revival of economy in the subsequent quarters of 2020-21, the labour force showed a swift recovery.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) payroll data cover the low paid workers in medium and large establishments of formal sector. 

The net addition in EPFO subscriptions is an indicator of the extent of job creation/ formalisation of the job market, and the coverage of social security benefits to the organised/ semi-organised sector workforce.

The other indicators of the economic activities such as all-time high gross GST collection in the month of March, 2022 and all-time high India’s overall export during the financial year 2021-22 are also supportive of positive trend in employment generation in the country. 

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