Labour ministry to come up with quarterly job survey on organised sector

One on unorganised sector to come by April; four more surveys to follow

The labour ministry will come up with an establishment-based job survey for the organised sector in August, capturing the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22.

Thereafter, there will be similar surveys in the unorganised sector during April to December. The first such survey will come in April 2022, which will reflect the fourth quarter of 2021-22.

The labour ministry is also working on four other surveys: On migrants, domestic workers, the transport sector, and professionals.

While the surveys on the organised and unorganised sectors would be quarterly, the frequency of the remaining four is yet to be decided. It could be once or twice a year, said Central Labour Commissioner D P S Negi.

Currently, the National Statistical Office comes up with a periodic labour force survey (PLFS), which gauges quarterly job situations in the urban sector. Besides, an annual PLFS is released, capturing both urban and rural areas. PLFSs are household surveys.

When asked which ones are better to gauge job scenarios — establishment-based or household-based — Negi said it was the former the world over.

Of the four surveys, those on migrants and domestic workers will be household surveys, while the ones on the transport sector and professionals will be establishment-based, he said.

In the absence of these surveys, many experts take payroll numbers provided by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), and National Pension System as the broad indicator for jobs. For instance, the latest numbers provided by the EPFO showed that after dipping in October and November, payroll addition gathered pace in December. Net payroll addition rose to 12.5 trillion in December from 8.7 trillion in the previous month.

However, one has to interpret these numbers carefully, Negi said. The payroll numbers are more an indication of formalisation of the economy than job creation.

After the payroll data, the labour ministry had discontinued its quarterly employment survey (QES) on jobs created in eight sectors that account for over 80 per cent of the country’s organised workforce.

So far as PLFS surveys on jobs in urban areas are concerned, the latest data showed that the unemployment rate rose to a record 20.9 per cent in April-June 2020-21, which was a period of lockdown, from 9.1 per cent in the previous quarter.