In signs of revival of the job market, the government today said overall employment in the country has increased by about five lakh during the July-September quarter.
The positive growth was attributed "to the stimulus packages which increased liquidity in the economy and consequently, gave a boost to production and consumption." The quarterly survey, which was the fourth in the series and conducted by Labour Bureau under the Labour and Employment Ministry, covered 2,873 units from various sectors such as textiles, leather, metal, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport, IT/BPO and handloom and powerloom in 11 states.
The results of the survey was revealed by Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat in Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The first quarterly survey was carried out for the period between October to December immediately after the onset of the global recession, which revealed that about five lakh people had lost jobs in the country.
Rawat said the results of the successive surveys conducted over the periods indicated that during the last one year between October 2008 and September 2009, "there has been a net addition of 1.51 lakh jobs in selected sectors."
He said that while employment declined by 4.91 lakh during the October-December quarter, it increased by 2.76 lakh during January-March quarter and again declined by 1.31 lakh in the April-June quarter. "During the fourth quarter between July and September, the employment increased by 4.97 lakh," he said.
The survey report comes at a time when prestigious institutes like IIMs and other business schools have also reported good placements.
The 43rd session of Standing Labour Committee has also decided to include issues related to employment in the next session of Indian Labour Conference. Rawat said that issues like employment generation and skill development will be discussed in the next session of the conference along with topics like job losses arising out of global financial downturn.
