Economic
Highlight
New Delhi, 4 October 2021
Holistic Growth
OF RISING JOBS &
QUALITY
By Shivaji Sarkar
At
last the jobs are growing, says the labour bureau employment latest survey. This
by 29 per cent in April-June quarter. The total employment rises to 3.08 crore
compared to 2.3 crore jobs in 2013-14 seventh quarterly economic survey (QES)
in manufacturing, health, education, IT/BPO, trade, financial services. During
this period the highest rise is noticed in the IT/BPO sector by 152 per cent
and employs about 6.7 per cent of the labour force.
Another
aspect is the dipping of total number of employees on payrolls constantly since
2017 from 11.3 lakh employees to 10.9 lakh in 2018 and 10.3 lakh in 2019. The
number of public sector employees has been coming down from 19.59 lakh in
1997-98 and by 2007, across United Front, NDA and UPA governments reduced to
16.14 lakh in 2006-7.
As
per the February, 2020 survey of Department of Public Enterprises there has
been sharp decline in the number of women employees during 2017-20. It dipped
from 1.15 lakh in 2017 to 87,667, about 20 per cent in two years. While some
experts consider the public sector to be a white elephant and revel at
dwindling worker numbers, there are others who feel that PSUs are still
relevant and need to be streamlined for many reasons including as the Navaratna
PSUs have been doing to create a competitive atmosphere for the private sector.
This apart there are views that the private sector has yet to mature and give
quality employment.
The
NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant in the Aayog portal in 2020 commented, “though there is sufficient employment, but the true
challenge is to create well-paying quality jobs”. He says the Periodic Labour
Force Surveys (PLFS) presented a poor
job scenario as the survey sample was small and inadequate.
India’s
strength was a mixed economy, the government and the private, pre-1991. It had
its problems too. The private sector had to face tough rules to be in competition.
So the liberalisation was welcomed. It also saw a revamp in the PSU structures
and the emergence of efficient, profit-making PSU carrying the tags of
Navratnas and Mini-Navratnas. Many of these became globally competitive.
But
policy changes and influence of the private sector saw those giants diminishing
through various squeezes on creation of job positions and delayed decision
making. While jobs and overall numbers of PSUs declined with gradual
disinvestments, a proper model need to replicate those giants was largely
absent. While a boost to the private sector is welcome, it also needs to be
seen that they come up with their own models and survive not just on
acquisition of public sector assets.
If
India has to grow it needs both. In a number of areas like railway operations
or power generation private sector has been lukewarm. They have tried to get
into areas where they could have large profits without spending much like
managing the railway stations or getting into power distribution private sector
been lukewarm. This has not changed since the 1950s.
That
is where a pragmatic private sector is needed or else the country has to
rethink how the public is not only retained but gets back its strength. A
country to make a firm progress has to have two different kinds of models.
The
CMIE on September 3 report says urban unemployment rose to 9.78 per cent in August from 8.3 per
cent in July and 10.07 per cent in June 2021. The urban unemployment
rate was 7.27 per cent in March, just before the second wave of COVID-19
pandemic hit the country.
Another observation of
the PLFS is that there has been a sharp increase in employment in
agriculture from 42.5 per cent of the total employment in 2018-19 to The
latest periodic PLFS report shows a sharp increase in employment in agriculture
from 42.5 per cent of the total employment in 2018-19 to 45.6 per cent in
2019-20. Post pandemic the migrant labourers chose to work in the agriculture
sector. There are another set of data that still put the numbers employed in
the farm sector at 54 per cent and may have increased. It is sanctified by the
free food dole being availed by 80 crore people and considered a great Indian
achievement.
The
figures can give different pictures. The NSSO’s periodic labour force survey
(PLFS) for July 2019 – June 2020 mentions surge in female labour force participation rate, as evidenced in
the latest and looks to be a positive sign, but there is a catch: much of this
increase is in the most sub-optimal category of unpaid family workers. The
worker lives with the unit’s proprietor and works for them but does not get
paid for his/her services. The family too works and adds to their wealth but
are not paid. A report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed in October 2020
that a whopping 94 per cent of women in India are employed in the informal
sector as domestic workers.
As in many developing countries, India also showed signs of
decline in agricultural employment corresponding to production. The employment
rate for unpaid workers in household enterprises increased from 13.3 per cent
in 2018-19 to 15.9 per cent in 2019-2020. For female workers, the employment
for unpaid work increased to 35 per cent from 30 per cent in 2018-19.
India needs to look at this lowest level of subsistence. Amitabh
Kant does not talk about them but stresses on the Rs 1.96 lakh crore
Production-Linked Incentive scheme. He hopes it would generate an incremental
production of $520 billion in five years and pave the way for $5 trillion
economy. It is basically aimed at funding the private sector. Had this been
aimed public sector the gains could have been more.
That jobs are not growing everywhere is also clear from QES. In
many sectors there have been job losses like accommodation, travel, tourism and
wage reduction in many others including the IT. He laments the taxes on fuel
and certain other items are causing inflation.
This apart, the QES is limited to comparison giving a brighter
look to the figures. Post-pandemic there are positive signs but still data may
not be reflecting the reality. The job figures have to be studied in totality
find out how it is helping every sector. The NITI Aayog should do that to set the pace for a holistic
growth and happiness. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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