Despite slump, India adds 3.15 lakh jobs in July-September

Overall employment in the country increased by 3.15 lakh during the July-September 2011 quarter. Employment increased across all sectors except leather and transport where there was a marginal fall, data released by the labour ministry showed.

According to the ministry, an upward trend in employment has been continuously observed since July 2009.

At the sectoral level, the IT/ BPO sector accounted for the maximum increase in employment of 2.04 lakh during the July-September 2011 (over the April-June 2011 quarter), followed by textiles (including apparels), where the number of employees increased by 0.42 lakh, while metals added 0.38 lakh, automobiles 0.22 lakh, handloom/power loom 0.09 lakh and gems and jewellery 0.07 lakh.

The number of regular (direct) employees rose the highest, at 3.18 lakh, during the July-September 2011 quarter while the number of contract workers declined by 0.02 lakh during the period July-September 2011 over April-June 2011.

Overall employment in export-oriented units increased by 1.96 lakh and by 1.16 lakh in the non-exporting units during July-September 2011 over April-June 2011.

Overall employment in the country increased by 9.11 lakh, with the IT/BPO sector accounting for the highest increase of 7.96 lakh, followed by metals (1.07 lakh), automobiles (0.71 lakh), gems and jewellery (0.08 lakh) and leather (0.07 lakh).