Labor studies show that IT is the leader in employment growth in the organized sector

Employment in nine key sectors was up, with technology-related jobs the most popular, rising an average of 3.42% a year since April 2014, according to a quarterly government survey, relaunched after almost four years.

The survey of 10,900 businesses found that these sectors, which cover manufacturing, technology, financial services and trade, employed some 30.8 million people at the end of June 30, up 29% from 23.7 million at the end of March 2014, when the last assessment was made.

The software and business process outsourcing (BPO) sector grew the fastest, at 152%, during the period, a Labor Ministry study found. Healthcare jobs rose 77%, the second-fastest.

The study found that employment in industry grew by just 22% over the period, while education grew by 39%, transport by 68%, construction by 42% and financial services by 48%.

“The comparison between QES and the economic census is not perfect… While some sectors have shown impressive numbers, we have to realise that it is these sectors that got a boost due to the huge demand for and adoption of technology post the outbreak of the pandemic,” said KR Shyam Sundar, labour economist and professor at XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Meanwhile, employment in trade fell by 25% and in the hotel and catering sector by 13%.

Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the quarterly employment survey would be a regular exercise to plug the gaps in data on employment.

While releasing the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), Yadav said the sixth economic census of 2013-14 estimated the number of workers in these sectors at 23.7 million, but there was no official data on the same.

Of all workers in the nine sectors, 40.6% were employed in manufacturing, 21.8% in education, 8.4% in healthcare, 6.7% in information technology and BPO, 6.6% in trade, 5.7% in financial services, 4.3% in transport, 2.9% in accommodation and food services, and 2.4% in construction.

Labor Secretary Sunil Barthwal said the QES is the start of a regular, quarterly employment survey that will help shape policy and fill a gap in official data on current employment.

The labour bureau relied on data from the sixth economic census as the data from the seventh economic census is yet to be released, QES survey design committee head SP Mukherjee said.

As Mukherjee, a senior labor economist and statistician, explains, while the economic census provides actual data at the national level, the QES is a survey and its data are estimates.

Mukherjee, however, said the survey provided reliable data from businesses and that he would prefer to compare it with the 2013-14 economic census rather than with previous rounds of QES, where data sampling and analysis were limited.

The previous QES was started after the Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008-09 to capture the impact of the economic crisis on export sectors. It was discontinued in 2017-18 by the government.

However, the study did not provide a comparative analysis of the impact of the pandemic on non-farm employment. It only found that employment fell in 27% of the surveyed companies during the period under review.

“On the bright side of the employment scenario, it can be noted that 81% of employees were paid their full salaries during the lockdown period (March 25-June 30, 2020), 16% were paid reduced salaries and only 3% were denied salary payments. However, in the health and financial services sector, more than 90% of employees were paid their full salaries,” the study said.

The study found that men made up 70.7% of all workers in these key sectors, indicating low female participation in the workforce.

“The overall percentage of women in employment was 29%, which is slightly lower than the 31% recorded in the 6th Economic Survey,” the study said.