Employment in India grows just 1 per cent as GDP expands by 8.6 per cent
27 Aug 2012
India' economy is growing without its fruits reaching labor and the lower rung of the economic ladder, thereby skewing development of the economy, minister for labour and employment Mallikarjun Kharge informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.
India's gross domestic product grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.6 per cent during 2004-05 to 2009-10 period, whereas employment estimated on current daily status basis had grown at the rate of about 1 per cent during the same period.
Results of the two most recent rounds of quinquennial labour force surveys on employment and unemployment conducted by the National Sample Survey Office during 2004-05 and 2009-10 showed that about 20 million additional job opportunities were created at an average rate of growth of around 1 per cent per year during 2004-05 to 2009-10.
The 11th Five Year Plan had aimed at creating 58 million additional job opportunities for skilled and unskilled labour on current daily status basis, at an average rate of growth of 2.73 per cent per annum, raising the number of employed from 402 million at the beginning of the Plan to about 460 million at the end of the Plan.
The approach paper to the 12th Plan highlights that for the growth to be inclusive, it must create adequate livelihood opportunities and add to decent employment commensurate with the expectations of a growing labour force.
There is a potential for an accelerated pace of creation of more durable rural non-farm jobs/livelihood opportunities. Such job opportunities could come from faster expansion in agro-processing, supply chains and the increased demand for technical personnel for inputs into various aspects of farming that is undergoing steady modernisation, and also the maintenance of equipment and other elements of rural infrastructure.
The services sector too has to continue to be a place for creation of decent jobs/livelihood opportunities, in both rural and urban areas, the minister stated in his written reply.
