India jobs crisis: How accurate is EPFO payroll data?
6 years, 2 months ago

India jobs crisis: How accurate is EPFO payroll data?

Live Mint  

New Delhi: On the face of it, India does not have a jobs crisis. While 12 million people enter the labour market each year, the fresh official payroll data showed 14.56 million new subscribers registered with the Employees Provident Fund Organization in the year to 31 August. and similarly there is the CMIE data that clearly indicate there is a jobs crisis,” he said, adding that “a huge thrust is being given to self-employment but can self-employment actually substitute regular jobs? “If you go to any industrial belt, you will find an undercurrent of unrest due to three reasons—first, the jobs or lack of it due to factors including automation; second, the quality of jobs; and third the insecurity in jobs due to over promotion of fixed-term employment,” Padmanabhan said over phone from Chennai where he said a workers’ protest is going on at the automobile manufacturing belt. However, the positive side is while the EPFO payroll data has many shortcomings, some argue it is giving for the first time some consolidated number on the formal sector, which was not possible earlier.

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History of this topic

Hiring In Formal Sector Slips 20.8 Per Cent In Oct As Additions Reach 7-Month Low
3 weeks ago

Hiring In Formal Sector Slips 20.8 Per Cent In Oct As Additions Reach 7-Month Low

ABP News  

Fresh formal hiring in India declined in October, official data revealed. The data showed that the number of new monthly subscribers under the EPF plunged by 20.8 per cent to 750,000, in comparison to 947,000 additions seen in September. Share Of Freshers In Subscriber Additions From the overall 750,000 new EPF subscribers added in October, young people aged 18-25 accounted …

IT and textile sector labelled 'job destroyers,' significant decline in job growth in FY 2023-24: BoB report
4 months, 3 weeks ago

IT and textile sector labelled 'job destroyers,' significant decline in job growth in FY 2023-24: BoB report

Hindustan Times  

India Inc. saw a significant slowdown in employment growth, with an increase of just 1.5 per cent in FY24, compared to a 5.7 per cent rise in FY23, according to a report by Bank of Baroda. Job growth increased by just 1.5% in FY24, compared to a 5.7% rise in FY23, {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} The report highlighted that only …

Data | The contours of India’s ‘formal jobs’ crisis
1 year, 5 months ago

Data | The contours of India’s ‘formal jobs’ crisis

The Hindu  

Since 2017, the Indian government has been using the Employees Provident Fund scheme’s data as a measure of payroll employment and formal job creation in the country. If we move past the basic scheme enrolment numbers, the EPF data, in fact, provide important insights into what’s happening to formal employment in the country. Unlike the EPF monthly enrolment data, which …

Looking beyond the joblessness number
2 years, 6 months ago

Looking beyond the joblessness number

Hindustan Times  

Unemployment rates are often looked at as the ultimate measure of a country’s ability to create employment. While they are indeed an important metric as far as the labour market is concerned, there is a need to look beyond the headline unemployment number, especially in the case of emerging market economies such as India. The 2020-21 PLFS report – it …

What forced PM Modi's jobs push now
2 years, 7 months ago

What forced PM Modi's jobs push now

India Today  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed the status of human resources in all central government ministries and departments and ordered the recruitment of 10 lakh people in a mission mode in the next 18 months,” the PM's Office said in a tweet on Tuesday. — PMO India June 14, 2022 Tuesday’s tweet from the PMO follows protests by frustrated job …

The difference in public and private estimates of employment in India
2 years, 9 months ago

The difference in public and private estimates of employment in India

Hindustan Times  

India does not have official high-frequency employment data, unlike countries such as the US, where statistics on employment, hours of work, overtime work, weekly and hourly income are available every month. CPHS overestimates the labour earnings for the pre-pandemic year According to PLFS data, the all-India average labour income in 2018-19 was ₹11,225 per month. This is 19% to 55% …

A hazy picture on employment in India
2 years, 11 months ago

A hazy picture on employment in India

The Hindu  

The two important indicators of structural transformation in any economy are rates of growth and changes in the structural composition of output and the workforce. Also, the unemployment rate in the female labour force in rural areas is far lower than the male labour force, whereas the opposite holds true in urban areas. This is despite the fact that the …

Only 13 per cent employers in India have hiring plans for next three months: Survey
5 years, 7 months ago

Only 13 per cent employers in India have hiring plans for next three months: Survey

India TV News  

With India's job market undergoing a transition, only 13 per cent of employers across the country indicate upbeat hiring plans for the next three months, while 61 per cent anticipate no change in their payrolls, a survey said Monday. According to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, while 13 per cent of employers expect to increase payrolls, none forecast a decrease, …

Why disclosing the withheld jobs report could improve GDP numbers too
5 years, 8 months ago

Why disclosing the withheld jobs report could improve GDP numbers too

Live Mint  

New Delhi: he suppression of the National Sample Survey Office’s jobs report has been at the receiving end of much criticism, but one fallout of the non-disclosure has gained little attention: the lack of reliable jobs data could bring a decade-long effort to improve estimates of informal sector activity to a creaking halt. The lack of a high-frequency labour market …

The problem with cherry-picking data
5 years, 8 months ago

The problem with cherry-picking data

The Hindu  

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said last week, “we definitely have a data crisis,” and blamed academics for creating a “false narrative”. Data are being withheld precisely where experts have flagged problems, such as on employment, farmers’ crisis and economic growth. To counter the argument of a crisis facing large segments of the population, …

Opinion | The ‘observer’s paradox’ and India’s jobs data confusion
5 years, 9 months ago

Opinion | The ‘observer’s paradox’ and India’s jobs data confusion

Live Mint  

It’s election season and claims and counter-claims are flying thick and fast. “Our own internal analysis showed that we are creating around 7.8 million jobs,” said NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant. “Conventional estimates suggested that there are 12 million entrants per year and the country needs roughly around seven million jobs.” Then we have non-government economists. Using Employee …

Why a full-blown unemployment crisis is awaiting India’s next govt; political theatrics may no longer work to hide the problem
5 years, 10 months ago

Why a full-blown unemployment crisis is awaiting India’s next govt; political theatrics may no longer work to hide the problem

Firstpost  

Two recent studies about the unemployment/financial situation of the average Indian worker, conducted by separate independent agencies, offer further disturbing evidence about India’s worsening job situation. The first is from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, which said at 7.2 percent, the country’s unemployment rate in February was worst in at least 29 months when labour force dwindled 25.7 million …

India generated 7.16 lakh jobs in December 2018, highest in the last 16 months: EPFO data
5 years, 10 months ago

India generated 7.16 lakh jobs in December 2018, highest in the last 16 months: EPFO data

Op India  

With the Indian job generation steadily escalating under the present government’s initiatives, the latest EPFO payroll data has revealed that India generated 7.16 lakh jobs in December 2018, reports Business Today. Data revealed that between the month of September 2017 to December 2018, 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation manages …

Standard deviations: On jobs data
5 years, 11 months ago

Standard deviations: On jobs data

The Hindu  

The resignations of the National Statistical Commission’s acting Chairperson P.C. Meenakshi appear linked to the Centre’s refusal to release new data on employment that were due to be made public in December 2018. They could also be related to unease about the recently unveiled back-series data on the economy, which recorded slower growth during the UPA-led government’s rule, and were …

Leaked NSSO report revives jobs debate, puts BJP on the back foot
5 years, 11 months ago

Leaked NSSO report revives jobs debate, puts BJP on the back foot

Live Mint  

Just months ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections, the growing debate over jobs is back to haunt the Bharatiya Janata Party -led National Democratic Alliance. The report echoed the opposition’s claim that the government has failed to create enough jobs and that the implementation of demonetization in November 2017 hit the economy as well as employment prospects. At a …

8.27 lakh jobs created in October, 79.16 lakh in last 14 months: EPFO data
6 years ago

8.27 lakh jobs created in October, 79.16 lakh in last 14 months: EPFO data

Live Mint  

New Delhi: Employment generation in the formal sector nearly trebled to 8.27 lakh in October 2018 as compared to 2.81 lakh in the same month a year ago, while 79.16 lakh jobs added in 14 months since September 2017, according to EPFO payroll data released Thursday. Around 79.16 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees’ …

Opinion | EPFO’s bid to publish payroll data is a gift to policymaking
6 years, 2 months ago

Opinion | EPFO’s bid to publish payroll data is a gift to policymaking

Live Mint  

US politician Mario Cuomo said “you campaign in poetry; you govern in prose”. Our company—TeamLease—is one of the largest payers of provident fund in the country—but I’d like to make the case that the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s recent initiative to publish payroll data is a wonderful gift to policymaking. And given India’s battle is less about having a job …

The enormity of job challenge that India faces
6 years, 2 months ago

The enormity of job challenge that India faces

Live Mint  

While there is no clarity on the extent of jobs created in the economy since 2011-12, there is no disagreement that the economy has failed to create enough jobs. The unrest among farmers driven by declining incomes is also a manifestation of the problem of employment in a country with almost half of the total workforce working in agriculture. The …

The Jobs Crisis in India: An account of a real problem that some fail to understand, and some pretend not to
6 years, 3 months ago

The Jobs Crisis in India: An account of a real problem that some fail to understand, and some pretend not to

Firstpost  

As the title suggests, Jagannathan admits the existence of a jobs crisis in the country, which needs to be seen in the backdrop of constant denials and playing down of this critical issue by many in the NDA-government and by right-leaning economists. The chapters are designed to debate some of the long-known issues concerning India’s job market, most importantly the …

Opinion | Jobs growth claims in India: a fact check
6 years, 4 months ago

Opinion | Jobs growth claims in India: a fact check

Live Mint  

Surjit Bhalla and Tirtha Das’ background paper, titled All You Wanted To Know About Jobs In India, But Were Afraid To Ask, is now available on the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council website —a welcome initiative. It claims: “While there are no official employment surveys post 2015.there are several individual pieces of data suggesting a healthy growth in employment in …

Six million people quit jobs in 10 months till June, shows govt data
6 years, 4 months ago

Six million people quit jobs in 10 months till June, shows govt data

Live Mint  

New Delhi: At least six million people, about 4.6 million of them under 35 years of age, left their formal jobs in the 10 months ending June and may or may not have rejoined work, according to payroll data released by the government on Friday. This is the first time since payroll data was first released in April that the …

Solving the mystery of missing employment data in the Indian economy
6 years, 5 months ago

Solving the mystery of missing employment data in the Indian economy

Live Mint  

In an interview given to Swarajya magazine earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lamented the lack of data on jobs in the country. Much of the debate on jobs has been based on these data sets ranging from the quarterly surveys of the labour bureau to the privately conducted surveys by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Even the …

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