Employment in 27 sectors grows 3.31 per cent YoY in 2022-23: RBI data

The number of people employed in 27 sectors, including agriculture, trade and financial services, rose 3.31 per cent year-on-year to 59.66 crore in 2022-23, according to data released by the RBI on July 8. In 2021-22, employment in these 27 sectors stood at 57.75 crore.

According to Reuters, the Reserve Bank said the country added 4.67 crore jobs in the fiscal year ended March, far exceeding figures in private surveys indicating high unemployment rates in the country. The pace of employment growth was 6 percent in 2023-24 compared with 3.2 percent in 2022-23, RBI data showed.

RBI has posted an update on its website titled, “Industry-Level Productivity Measurement-India KLEMS Database (Capital (K), Labour (L), Energy (E), Materials (M) and Services (S))”.

The database covers 27 industries that make up the entire Indian economy. The database also provides these estimates at a broad sectoral level (agriculture, manufacturing, and services) and at an all-India level.

Includes Data Manual 2024 and time series productivity data for 27 industries covering the period 1980-81 to 2022-23.

The ‘agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing’ sector employed 25.3 crore people, up from 24.82 crore in 2021-22. Construction, trade and transport and warehousing were among the leading segments providing employment.

The RBI said the document describes the procedures, methodologies and approaches used in building the India KLEMS database, version 2024.

“The production and publication of the India KLEMS database is aimed at supporting empirical research in the area of ​​economic growth and its sources,” the central bank said.

The RBI added that the primary purpose of the database is to support the implementation of policies aimed at accelerating productivity growth in the Indian economy.

The data release follows a Citibank report last week that growth of nearly 7 percent would create only 8-9 million jobs in India, short of the 11-12 million needed. “Even 7 percent GDP growth may not be enough to meet the employment requirement over the next decade,” Citi’s chief India economist Samiran Chakraborty wrote in a note.

The government on July 8 rejected the Citigroup report. In its response, the government highlighted “several shortcomings” in the report, which it said did not “analyze all official data sources available in the public domain.”

“The report does not take into account comprehensive and positive employment data available from official sources like Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and KLEMS data of the Reserve Bank of India,” the Ministry of Labour and Employment said.

As per RBI’s PLFS and KLEMS data, India has generated over 80 million (80 million) jobs between 2017-18 and 2021-22. This translates to over 20 million (20 million) jobs on an average per annum, despite the fact that the global economy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, which contradicts Citigroup’s claims that India is unable to generate sufficient employment, the ministry said in its response.

(With agency guidance)