Page 7 - Labor

New labour force survey confirms unemployment rate at 6.1 pc in 2017-18

The unemployment rate in 2017-18 was 6.1 per cent, corroborating the pre-election leaked report that had claimed joblessness at a 45-year high. The leaked report on periodic labour force survey (PLFS) from July 2017 to June 2018 had on comparison with previous surveys concluded that the joblessness was at the highest level in 45 years. However, releasing the survey report after taking into account the expert committee recommendations, Statistics Secretary Pravin Srivastava told reporter, "It is a new design and a new matrix. It would be unfair to compare it with the past. This 45- year high is your interpretation. I don't want to claim that it is 45-year low or high." Elaborating further, he said, "The point is that it is different matrix. From 2017-18 onwards, you will be getting regular estimates and this (labour force survey) can be used as a base. When we change the matrix, it is very difficult to measure (compare) because there is no means to do a retrospective analysis in that ..

It's official: Unemployment rate at 45-year high!

It is now official that the country has indeed been witnessing jobless growth.

Unemployment rate at 6.1 pc in 2017-18, confirms govt data

Confirming unemployment rate projected in a pre-election leaked report, the government Friday said joblessness in the country was 6.1 per cent of total labour force during 2017-18, the highest in 45 years. The data released by the government on a day when Modi 2.0 Cabinet took charge showed 7.8 per cent of all employable urban youth being jobless, while the percentage for the rural was 5.3 per cent. The joblessness among male on all India basis was 6.2 per cent, while it was 5.7 per cent in case of females.

Missing Indian visitor found in Abu Dhabi jail

An Indian visitor presumed missing has been found in a jail in Abu Dhabi for over-staying and will be repatriated, a senior Indian Embassy official said.

Delhi Secretariat may soon get a creche

In a bid to lend a helping hand to working mothers, the Delhi government on Wednesday said it is mulling over the possibility of setting up a creche at the Secretariat here for the children of these working women."It has been brought to my notice by my colleagues at the Delhi secretariat that a creche for children of working parents is needed," read an order issued by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to the Secretary, Women and Child Development."Secretary (WCD) should explore the possibility and feasibility of a creche at the Delhi secretariat. A meeting may be convened at the level of Secretary (ECD) with concerned departments for making a plan for the opening of a creche," said Sisodia in his order.Maintaining a work-life balance for working women, especially working mothers, is not easy, and it is the responsibility of the employers to improve their working conditions, said Sisodia.The WCD Secretary has been asked to submit a plan in connection with the proposal by June 15..

Education, agriculture, jobs my priorities: Balasore MP

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, a first-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Balasore in Odisha, said agriculture, tourism, education and employment were his priorities as the representative of the people.

Delhi Secretariat may have a creche soon

The Delhi government is planning to set up a creche at the Delhi Secretariat to help working parents.

ESIC scam: Scores illegally availed maternity leave benefits

A Pandora's Box seems to have opened in the infamous maternity leave scam unravelling at the Employees State Insurance Corp (ESIC) regional office in Faridabad's Sector 16 in Haryana.

Hary govt to give Rs 1 cr advance to DCs to meet emergent requirements

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Tuesday said an advance of up to Rs 1 crore each will be given to deputy commissioners of the state to meet emergent requirements arising out of lack of funds. The emergent requirements include payment of wages and honorarium to employees engaged on contract basis under central and state-sponsored schemes in case the departments do not receive funds or grants on time from the Centre or state government. The funds will be released from contingency funds of the state, the chief minister said. The decision has been taken for the benefit of employees engaged on contract basis and remove any inconvenience to them due to non-payment of wages, an official release said here.

Haryana raises DA allowance for state employees by 3%

Haryana government on Monday announced a raise in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners from the existing 9 per cent to 12 per cent.The new DA rates will be applicable retrospectively from January 1, 2019, and will cause an extra burden of about Rs 17.70 crore per month on the state exchequer, a press statement from the Haryana government said.Announcing the changes here, Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said that the state government has also increased DA by 6 per cent for employees who continue to draw their pay in the pre-revised pay scale as per norms of the 6th Pay Commission.The existing rate stands at 148 per cent of the basic pay and will be considered to be in effect starting January this year. This revision would have an extra financial liability of around Rs 63.55 lakh per month, the statement noted.

Video surveillance in Kishtwar markets to 'caught govt employees roaming during office hours'

The Kishtwar district administration has ordered recording of random videos at market places, tea stalls and restaurants with high footfall to caught employees "wandering freely during duty hours" and check absenteeism in government offices. The development comes 10 days after the salaries of 78 government employees were withheld for being unauthorisedly absent from their legitimate duties during a surprise inspection of various offices in the district, officials said on Sunday. The teams would be positioned at strategic locations in Kishtwar town and its periphery and also at sub-divisional and tehsil headquarters, a move aimed at ensuring punctuality in government offices, they said. District Development Commissioner (DDC), Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Rana Saturday issued an order for constituting various Video Surveillance Teams (VST) to keep a check on the movement of employees, the officials said. The VSTs would record videos at market places, and strategic locations with high ...

Companies re-designing job roles due to changing industry trends: Survey

With traditional jobs undergoing transformation, companies are now re-designing job roles to accommodate changing industry dynamics, according to a survey. Nearly half (47 per cent) of senior HR professionals are predicting a skills shortage in the country in the near future and, as a result, over one-third (37 per cent) are focusing on making changes in job descriptions to swiftly adopt changing trends, according to the survey by job portal Shine.com. It did the survey among HR professionals from various sectors on its own platform. As organisations are rapidly adopting technology to streamline processes and make them more efficient, traditional job roles are undergoing massive transformation, the survey noted. As new job roles enter the market, we are already seeing job descriptions evolve. Skills which wouldn't typically be found in the same role earlier are now being combined to create more multi-dimensional profiles," Shine.com CEO Zairus Master said. Hence, he said, the ...

Jet Airways employees stage protest in Delhi

Jet Airways employees on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Safdarjung Airport here, seeking government's intervention to solve the crisis facing the airline.The protesting employees were demanding the intervention of government in securing the future of the airline company.Many employees carried placards on which "Save Jet Airways", "Hear our cry, Let 9W fly" and "We have dependent to feed, please don't let our 9W bleed" was written to draw the attention of the government.Pooja, a customer service employee, who had been working with Jet Airways for the past 11 years, said she had her family loans, her parents and many other co-dependents to look after. She added meeting these expenses was becoming difficult with each passing day considering they had not got their salaries since February."We have not got our salaries from February. I personally have a lot of burden on me, being the sole bread earner in my family. There are many more like me amongst the 22,000 employees. We have many

BCCI CEO Rahul Johri urges CoA to resolve increment issue

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO, Rahul Johri, has urged the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) to resolve an issue of increment pertaining to his Employment Agreement. In a letter written to the CoA, Amicus Curiae, and the legal team, Johri has claimed that he remains the only person in the board who has not been paid an increment in the last two years."This is with reference to the issue of increment pertaining to my Employment Agreement for the period from 1st June 2016 till 31st May 2017 and 1st June 2017 to 31st May 2018, which has been pending determination with the Hon'ble Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators ("CoA") for almost a year and three months," Johri stated in the letter."I write this email to urge each one of you to resolve this issue in a time-bound manner so that the pending dues can be disbursed to me without any further delay. Unfortunately, I am the only employee of the BCCI who has not been provided any ...

Ford sees twisting road ahead, cuts 7K white-collar jobs

Ford revealed details of its long-awaited restructuring plan Monday as it prepared for a future of electric and autonomous vehicles by parting ways with 7,000 white-collar workers worldwide, about 10 per cent of its global salaried workforce. The major revamp, which had been under way since last year, will save about USD600 million per year by eliminating bureaucracy and increasing the number of workers reporting to each manager. In the U.S. about 2,300 jobs will be cut through buyouts and layoffs. About 1,500 have left voluntarily or with buyouts, while another 300 have already been laid off. About 500 workers will be let go starting this week, largely in and around the company's headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, just outside Detroit. The layoffs are coming across a broad swath of the company including engineering, product development, marketing, information technology, logistics, finance and other areas. But the company also said it is hiring in some critical areas including those

Harris wants to fine companies that pay men more than women

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is unveiling a pay inequity proposal that aims to close the gender pay gap by holding corporations accountable when men are paid more than women. Harris' plan would require companies to disclose pay policies while applying for a mandatory "Equal Pay Certification" from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Companies that fail to achieve certification would be fined 1 per cent of their profits for every 1 per cent wage gap they allow to persist for work of equal value. The US senator from California says USD 180 billion would be generated over 10 years, with fines decreasing over time as companies strengthen their equal pay practices.

State of economy-V: Job crisis continues to worsen

The ruling NDA government won a landslide in 2014 on a promise that it will produce jobs. Five years down the line, India is staring at one of the worst job crisis ever.

Microsoft to train 15,000 people on AI by 2022

Software major Microsoft has decided to train and certify 15,000 workers on Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills by 2022, in partnership with education provider General Assembly (GA).

Silicon Valley-based IT firm sues US govt for denying H-1B visa to Indian professional

A Silicon Valley-based IT company has filed a lawsuit against the US government for denying the most sought-after H-1B visa to a highly qualified 28-year-old Indian professional, terming the renunciation "arbitrary" and a "clear abuse of discretion". Xterra Solutions alleged in its lawsuit that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) improperly denied H-1B visa to Praharsh Chandra Sai Venkata Anisetty, whom it had hired as a Business System Analyst. The company's H-1B petition on behalf of Anisetty was denied on the sole ground that the job offered to him did not qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation, the lawsuit said. "The denial is not supported by substantial evidence in the record, is contrary to established legal precedent, and is arbitrary, capricious and constitutes a clear abuse of discretion," the company alleged and urged the Northern District of California US District Court to set aside the USCIS order. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US ...

PM does not talk about unemployment, teaches how to eat mango: Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was avoiding issues like unemployment, farmers and corruption but was teaching the nation how to eat mangoes.Rahul was making a veiled reference Modi's conversation with actor Akshay Kumar in which he had talked about eating mangoes."In this election, did 'Chowkidar' talk about corruption? Is he saying that I will fight against corruption? No. Is he talking about unemployment? No. Is he talking about farmers? No. While campaigning in these elections, did he once say that I will give Rs 15 lakhs? No. These days Narendra Modi teaches the nation how to eat mango. He talks about Kurta," Gandhi said addressing an election meeting here.He added, "Narendra Modi ji tell the country why you didn't give Rs 15 lakhs, tell people of Bihar why you made the state the centre of unemployment, tell farmers why you insulted them and didn't fulfil the dreams you had promised."Gandhi went on to add that ..