NEW DELHI: India has seen a growth of 29% in employment across nine sectors in April-June 2021 over 2013-14, according to a report of the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) released on Monday by the Labour Ministry.
The Q1 report of the All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES), released by Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav, estimates the total employment across the selected sectors at 3.8 crore against a total of 2.37 crore in these sectors taken collectively, as reported in the sixth Economic Census (2013-14).
The nine sectors are IT/BPO, manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation & restaurant, and financial services. “Of the total employment estimated in the selected nine sectors, manufacturing accounts for nearly 41% followed by education with 22%, and health 8%. Trade as well as IT/BPO each engaged 7% of the total estimated number of workers,” the minister said.
The survey reveals the most impressive growth of 152% in the IT/BPO sector. The growth rates in health stand at 77%, education 39%, manufacturing 22%, transport 68% and construction 42%. However, employment in trade came down by 25% and the accommodation & restaurant industry saw a 13% drop. Financial services, on the other hand, witnessed a growth of 48% in job.
Regarding the impact of the pandemic on employment, the survey suggests that in the organised non-farm segment of the Indian economy, it has been found that pandemic-induced employment retrenchment/ decline was evident in 27% of the establishments.
The silver lining, however, is that 81% of the workers received full wages during the lockdown period. “A total of 16% received reduced wages and around 3% were denied any wages. In the health and financial services sector, more than 90% workers received full wages. However, in the Construction sector, 27% had to accept reduced wages and 7% were left with none,” it adds.
