Survey shows jobs recovery in March quarter

Employment in some sectors under observation increased by 250,000 in the quarter ended March 2009, a survey by the Labour Bureau revealed today. In the previous quarter, a similar survey by the Bureau had shown 500,000 job losses in the same sectors.

The survey covered around 3,000 units from sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, metal and metal products, leather, automobiles, as well as infotech and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

The latest survey says total employment in the surveyed units was 15.72 million. This is less than the 16.2 million jobs in the same units seen in September 2008.

Significantly, the increase in jobs in the period was higher for non-exporting units than factories that were engaged in exports.

Exports have been in negative territory since October, owing to lack of orders from markets abroad.

Gems and jewellery have shown a 3.08 per cent rise in employment in the January to March period, highest among all the sectors.

Other sectors showing an increase in jobs are textiles, IT/BPO, handloom, powerloom and automobiles. Sectors showing a decline in jobs include leather, metals and transport.

The survey says there has been a 0.68 per cent increase in employment of direct workers during the period, compared with a dip of 0.63 per cent during October to December 2008.

Employment of contractual workers remained flat in the quarter. This had seen a 3.88 per cent dip during October to December 2008.