BHUBANESWAR : More than half of the salaried employees in Odisha do not get any social security benefits - be it provident fund, health care, maternity benefit, pension, gratuity, or a combination of these.
This has been pointed out in the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report released by NSSO for the period July 2023 to June 2024.
According to the report, as high as 52.7 per cent (pc) of the working population (non-agricultural sectors) in both rural and urban areas do not enjoy any social security benefit. Odisha, though, fares a little better the national average of 53.4 pc on this front.
The trend is uneven even across genders. While 49.7 pc of salaried men have social security benefits, just 40.7 pc of women employees have access to such cover. However, 50.2 pc of employed men have no job contracts while it is 41.6 pc in case of women. A statewise break-up of the PLFS data shows that the highest 71.3 pc of Punjab’s salaried workers have no access to any social security benefit in the country.
A comparison of the annual PLFS reports in the last three financial years shows that the percentage of salaried persons without social security perks in the state has increased in the last five years. In 2021-22 and 2022-23, it stood at 48.7 pc and 51.6 pc respectively. It was the highest 55.7 pc in 2020-21. During the pre-Covid period, this percentage stood at 51.4.
The PLFS report also shows that 48 pc of the employed population have not been provided any job contract before or after joining work and 43.6 pc are not eligible for any paid leave.
Experts believe that this trend is not just because of the rise in the informal sector but also the employees’ interest in a high salary that comes without a contract and associated social security benefits. Economics professor Mitali Chinara said while there is a general trend of rise in the informal sector, there is also informalisation of the formal sector.
“Anyone would chose a socially-secure job than one in the informal sector. But these days, a lot of work, services, activities in the formal sector are being informalised because the formal sector cannot absorb the entire labour force. These outsourced jobs come without any social security cover,” she said.
Secretary of Orissa Economics Association Amarendra Das said employees in any sector nowadays do not see much profit in investing their money in social security like pension these days. “Instead, they would invest in direct trading, mutual funds, SIP to earn higher monetary benefits. Which is why, they would prefer to go for a high-paying job that comes without any investment towards insurance or pension,” he said.