Experts pick holes in govt claim of sharper employment growth

Amid an acute job crisis evident from anecdotal accounts, stagnant corporate headcount, low wage growth and data from independent agencies like the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the government has recently sought to paint a rosy picture.

- PRIYANSH VERMA

AMID AN ACUTE job crisis evident from anecdotal accounts, stagnant corporate headcount, low wage growth and data from independent agencies like the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the government has recently sought to paint a rosy picture. On January 2, the labour ministry issued a press statement, where it cited the Reserve Bank's KLEMS database to state that employment in the country rose 36% to 643.3 million between 2014-15 and 2023-24, as compared to a 7% increase in the previous decade.

However, experts have sounded caution. They noted that even self-employment and unpaid labour are counted in the data cited by the government, and raised the issue of deteriorating quality of jobs. Also, some suggested that figures of KLEMS database, not being a robust primary data source, are just "estimates" that could be incorrect.

The labour ministry's latest claim of improving the employment scenario is consistent with a similar assessment by it in July.