Job creation prime focus of India's employment policy: Dattatreya

Job creation is the "prime focus" of the employment policy of India where 10 million people are included every year to the workforce, Union Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has said.

"Fifty-eight percent of our population is under 29...We add 10 million people every year to the workforce. Job creation particularly youth employment is therefore the prime focus of our employment policy," Dattatreya said in a statement issued by the Labour Ministry here on Friday.

Addressing the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers' Meeting (LEMM) in Ankara, Turkey on Thursday, the minister said the government has taken flagship initiatives such as "Make in India", "Skill India", "Digital India" and "Smart Cities Project" to encourage domestic industry and attract large scale global investment.

"We look at Make in India as a unique opportunity for job creation in formal sector for our youth. We have also embarked on a massive mission of skilling India particularly youth to correct and match the demand for skill sets," he said.

The minister said India was working on creating a conducive business environment for sustainable economic growth.

He said in this context a number of labour law reforms have been undertaken to rationalise and modernise the labour market regulations and working

conditions "so that large excluded segment of workforce can be brought into ambit of labour regulatory framework and provided with basic labour rights including social security and wages".

The labour minister said it was "very critical now" that employment policy takes the centrestage of developmental goals and growth strategy in both national and international context.

He said Idia was implementing National Career Service (NCS) Project for strengthening the public employment services in the country to bring job seekers, employers and training providers on a common platform with the use of information technology.

The NCS provides employment related services like career counselling, skill development courses, apprenticeship and internships.

"Today, the NCS is bringing together 1031 career centers, more than 20.4 million registered job seekers,129 career counsellors for career guidance, 23,936 skill providers with career building courses, 1,684 registered employers with active jobs in 53 sectors," the minister added.