More jobs can be created through farm reforms

ECONOMIC SURVEY 2004-05/ EMPLOYMENT

Jobs Bill a direct attack on unemployment.

The Economic Survey called for increasing links between agriculture and rural industrialisation, raising of the credit flow to the small-scale sector, opening up of the retail trade to foreign investment and greater value addition in the farm sector to create more jobs.

Reiterating the UPA's commitment to employment generation, the survey said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill was the government's direct attack on unemployment.

It said the number of registered job-seekers in the 947 employment exchanges declined by 0.78 per cent to 40.8 million at the end of September 2004 from 41.1 million in February 2004.

The employment exchanges made 103,000 placements during the period against 212,000 vacancies that were notified. The placement was maximum in Gujarat, while Maharashtra recorded the highest number of registrations, the survey said.

According to the survey, there was large-scale inter-state differentials in employment between 1993-1994 and 1999-2000. Haryana and Gujarat recorded the highest growth in employment, while West Bengal and Kerala the least growth.

The survey said the near- stagnation of jobs in agriculture in 1994-2000 had pushed employment growth in this sector down to 1.07 per cent a year from 2.7 per cent a year in 1983-1994.

This also led to the share of agriculture in total employment drop to 57 per cent in 1999-2000 from 60 per cent in 1993-1994. The organised sector accounts for only 7-8 per cent (27.2 million) of the total work force.