Govt data hints at revival of job creation

New jobs surge to 136,000 in July-Sept as against 64,000 in previous quarter

Job creation in the organised sector grew twofold to 136,000 in July-September 2017, compared with the previous quarter, largely driven by an uptick in the manufacturing sector, according to the latest official estimates.

The number of jobs created in April-June 2017 stood at 64,000, while it was 32,000 in July-September 2016, according to the Labour Bureau’s quarterly report on employment.

The Bureau conducts an establishment-based job survey in eight sectors — manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurants, and information technology. These constitute 81 per cent of factories in the country employing at least 10 workers.

In the manufacturing sector, 89,000 jobs were created, compared with 87,000 job losses in the previous quarter and 24,000 new jobs in the same period last year. In the September-ended quarter, job losses were witnessed in the construction sector alone, with a contraction of 22,000 jobs. In the previous quarter, 10,000 jobs were created and in the September-ended quarter last year, 1,000 jobs were lost in the sector.

B N Nanda, senior labour and employment advisor to the labour ministry, attributed the decline in new jobs to seasonal factors. “The unit level data showed that construction of buildings slowed down due to seasonal activities and festivities. Many migrant workers usually travel back to their home states during this period,” Nanda, who holds the additional charge of the Labour Bureau, said.

Nanda also justified the sharp dip in manufacturing sector jobs in the April-June 2017 period. “There was a dip in brick manufacturing due to monsoon season. The same trend was witnessed in the same period last year as well,” he said.

Job creation slowed down in accommodation and restaurants, information technology and BPO, education and health sectors in the September-ended quarter, the latest figures showed.

The pace of employment generation slowed to 21,000 in the education sector from 99,000 in the previous quarter. New jobs in the health sector stood at 11,000 compared with 31,000 a quarter ago. The pace of job creation halved in the IT sector and declined by more than half in the accommodation and restaurants sector.

Job creation improved in the trade sector to 14,000 from 7,000 a quarter ago, and in the transport sector to 20,000 from job losses by 3,000 in the quarter-ago period.