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The perception that more jobs were created during the 1998-2004 National Democratic Alliance government than that of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) isn't based on facts, said Jairam Ramesh, the minister for rural development.
From projections based on a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) study, 60 million jobs were created between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, against 15 million during 2004-05 to 2011-12.
According to news agencies, in an 18-point questionnaire to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha quoted from this survey to make a point on job creation. Ramesh said here on Sunday that this was selective use and interpretation of NSSO data.
He said the NSSO data change reflected a more inclusive, productive and better paying job generation, with a more skilled labour force.
"The NSSO numbers indicate a decline in the worker-to-population ratio. This has actually been in the female workforce, more specifically in the case of rural females in the agriculture sector. Other indicators suggest this is a positive trend and there is an improvement in the quality of workforce," he said.
NSSO data say in 2004-05, for every 100 persons, there were 42 working; this came down to 39 in 2011-12. There was a decline, he stated, in rural casual female workers from 38 per cent to 35 per cent and urban casual female workers from 20 per cent to 14 per cent between 2009-10 and 2011-12. Female self-employed workers and salaried employees increased during the period.
Ramesh said the jobless rate under the NDA went up from 7.3 per cent in 1999-2000 to 8.3 per cent in 2004-05; under the UPA, it came down to 5.6 per cent in 2011-12. This suggested females could be moving to more lucrative job categories.
Citing an analysis from the Institute of Applied Manpower Research and the Planning Commission, the minister said in contrast to an increase in the unemployment rate during 1999-2005, it decreased during 2005-2012. This was driven by job opportunities in the construction sector, which grew 9.8 per cent over the period, on the back of infrastructure development, manufacturing (1.7 per cent), services (2.2 per cent) and infrastructure development. In agriculture, it fell by 2.1 per cent during the period.
He highlighted the employment growth during the UPA regime has been marked by increase in regular wage employment and enrolment of girls in schools that led to their withdrawal from the workforce.
He also credited the UPA with the highest-ever yearly growth in gross domestic product in a decade and for pulling 140 million people above the poverty line in the past 10 years.
