The Numbers Hide The Story

Social security enrolment of workers is not a good measure of how many new jobs are created

- Lola Nayar

EMPLOYMENT data has always been a subject of debate in India, more so now that the surge in social security enrolments is being cited as evidence to press home that 41.26 lakh new jobs were created between September 2017 and April this year. The Central Statistics Office data earlier this month raises more questions than it answers. Labour ministry sources too are wary of giving any straight ans wer on the doubts raised. “We can’t distinguish between formal isation and new jobs,” says a senior official, referring to the surge in the number of employees who have come under social security schemes such as Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). The surge in enrolment is mostly due to the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), under which the government pays the employer’s share of contribution in the social security schemes for three years. Covering new employees earning up to Rs 15,000 per month, the government has to pay 3.67 percent as EPS and 8.33 percent as EPF contributions during that period. As a result, 54 lakh employees have been enrolled in the two schemes in less than two years, and the government has contributed Rs 1,200 crore to meet the employers’ commitment.

As against the government target of five lakh enrolments per year, labour ministry officials point out the enrolments have far surpassed the targets as companies strive to push for formalising employment during the three-year incentive period. “Unfortunately, everybody is going by provident fund data, which was never considered important in the past for tracking employment,” says Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) secretary-general Vrijesh Upadhyay, who is also a member of the EPFO’s central board of trustees.