Govt’s labour report cites major unemployment despite economic growth

A labour report released by the labour bureau shows that while the economy is growing a 7%, jobs increased by 1.1% last year, which means that the government has been facing a growing employment crisis across the country.

As per reports in The Telegraph, statistics from the government’s labour bureau show that job growth plummeted in key sectors to its lowest levels in eight years in calendar years 2015 and 2016 at 1.55 lakh and 2.31 lakh, respectively, compared with a high of over 10 lakh new jobs created in 2009.

According to the same report, one of the reasons behind the jobless growth is that companies are increasingly turning to automation and digital processes “even as they pare other costs, including wage bills, to future-proof growth and profits in a competitive environment.”

The report, which gives data for eight sectors for nine months in 2016 till end-December – manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, hotels and restaurant, IT/BPO, education and health – shows low job growth in almost all sectors and jobs shrinking in construction and hotels and restaurants.

According to a Times of India article that cited the Labour Bureau report, Only 61% of people in the workforce were found to have year-round jobs …read more