New non-farm jobs in Q2FY23: Higher than Q1 but below Omicron-hit Q4FY22

But in first half of the FY, new hirings halved compared to Omicron-hit H2 of FY22

This report has been updated.


Fresh job creation in the nine major non-farm sectors recovered sequentially in the September quarter of FY23 but remained below new job additions during the Omicron-hit March quarter of FY22, according to latest government data.

However, during the first half (April-September) of FY23, the number of new hirings more than halved to 331,221 compared to H2 of FY22 at 740,415.

Earlier this year, the Labour Bureau had released the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) results for the fifth and sixth rounds, pertaining to Q1 and Q2 of FY23. 

In the Omicron-hit quarter (Q4 FY22), fresh job creation in these nine non-farm sectors had dipped to 350,299 from 390,116 in Q3 of FY22. Job additions further fell to 49,197 in Q1 of FY23 before recovering to 282,024 in Q2 of FY23.

The previous QES pertaining to Q4 of FY22 was released in September 2022. The nine non-farm sectors covered under the survey are manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation & restaurants, information technology (IT)/business process outsourcing (BPO) and financial services. 

Data showed that manufacturing (1.7 million) added the most number of jobs during the first half of FY23, compared to the second half of FY22.

During the same period, while financial services (355,631), health (151,378) and trade (76,228) sectors added fresh jobs, those like education (-1.57 million), transport (-128,099), construction (-118,585), IT/BPOs (-98,957) and accommodation & restaurants (-20,262) saw a decline in their workforce.

The fifth and sixth round survey estimated that a total of 462,000 units operated in these nine sectors in the country, down from nearly 531,000 total establishments that were estimated in earlier rounds.

The reports showed that almost 90 per cent of these establishments have been found to be operating with less than 100 workers.

Financial services and education sectors had the highest percentage of establishments operating with 100 or less workers. 

Majority of the establishments — almost 96 per cent— each in manufacturing and IT/BPOs sectors were registered under Good and Services Tax Act, 2017.

The Labour Bureau had launched the QES in April 2021 to capture employment data from the units that were enumerated in the nine non-farm sectors in the Sixth Economic Census.

It is part of the All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES) and covers those units which employ 10 or more workers. 

While the periodic labour force survey (PLFS) by the Ministry of Statistics provides the employment scenarios for the supply-side of the labour market through household surveys, the QES provides the demand-side picture of the labour market through establishment surveys.

For the fifth and sixth round, a sample size of about 15,000 units was selected across the country. And, the list of establishments included those covered under Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2019- 20 as well, along with the establishments under the Sixth Economic Census.