India to host Asia's first World Employment Conference

The event will be held in May 2016

For the first time in Asia, India has won the bid to host the 49th Ciett World Employment Conference (WEC) in May next year, said Indian Staffing Federation (ISF), the apex body of flexi staffing industry in India.

"This event is a great means to showcase India as an emerging talent powerhouse, building the confidence of investors across the globe who are waiting to reap dividends in the country through their investments here," said Rituparna Chakraborty, President, ISF.

The Indian staffing market has seen a growth of about 20 per cent in the past three years. However, finding the right talent still, both in the vocational and professional space, remains a huge challenge for the market. By bringing WEC to the country, the body looks to create a 'window of opportunity' to showcase India in front of the global employment industry.

Indian workforce has increased to 397.4 million in 2013 with 3 million workers from informal sector entering the formal sector employment. This has resulted in a surge of 7.2 million in the formal sector workforce. About 12 million people enter the labour market every year but less than 10 per cent land jobs, ISF said in a statement.

ISF had recently partnered with the Centre's National Career Counselling portal to offer formal jobs to Indian youth. The portal has seen about 3,52,482 registered jobseekers with maximum registrations from Madhya Pradesh at 1,67,485.