Formal job creation falls 22% in FY21

NEW DELHI: The lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, and the subsequent economic disruptions have had a less-than-expected impact on new job additions in the formal sector.

Around 8.55 million jobs were created in the formal sector in the pandemic hit FY21, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday. The number is 22% less than the 11 million jobs created before the pandemic reached our shores in FY20, but it is still more than what many expected, given the nationwide lockdown because of the pandemic.

CSO uses addition to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) subscriber base to find employment numbers in the formal sector.

There has been an uproar over job losses and a slowdown in employment generation in the last few months, though the government has cited Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation data to show that employment generation has been on the rise. Experts, however, said EPFO data does not give a complete picture of employment as it is only indicative of the formal sector and leaves out the large workforce in the unorganized sector.

There were as many as 8.5 million new EPF subscribers in FY21, according to the latest data. However, 9.8 million people also stopped subscription during the period. Around 9 million people who had exited EPFO resubscribed to the fund.

The job situation in FY22 is also improving steadily, with more than 6 million new EPF subscribers coming into the fold between April and October, according to CSO data. The job scenario in the formal sector has been extremely good in July, August and September when close to 10 subscribers joined EPFO every month.

The data also provides information on gender-wise job creation. In FY21, 6.6 million males joined the formal job market, while only 1.95 million females joined the workforce. Also, more youngsters in the age bracket of 18-25 years are being employed, while others are still finding the going tough.