INDIA DOUBTS CREDIBILITY OF CITI GROUP REPORT ON STATE OF EMPLOYMENT

The central government on Monday strongly refuted the recent Citigroup report put out on the state of employment in India and the outlook around it.

- 

In a statement, the Ministry of Labour and Employment asserted that such reports did not analyze all official data sources available in the public domain.

The recent research report by Citigroup on employment in India, as per the Ministry, quoted widely in the media, forecast that India will struggle to create sufficient employment opportunities even with a 7 per cent growth rate. It failed to account for the comprehensive and positive employment data available from official sources such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the Reserve Bank of India’s KLEMS data, the Ministry added.

Citi estimated that India will need to create about 12 million jobs a year over the next decade to absorb the number of new entrants to the labour market. Based on a growth rate of 7 per cent, India can only generate 8-9 million jobs a year, the bank’s economists said in the report in contention.

The report asserted India will struggle to create enough jobs for its growing workforce over the next decade even if the economy grows at a rapid pace of 7 per cent. It posed questions on the quality of jobs being created in India.