The formal job creation peaked in the month of September as per the EPFO data. The number of people who subscribed PF services through Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) was 9, 73,744 in September this year. This is the highest enrollment since the month of September last year when the enrollment data was set. The previous peak was achieved in the month of July (9.32 lakhs) with the total payroll from September last year to September this year standing at 79.48 lakhs. The best thing about the additions in the month of September is that the maximum numbers of jobs have gone to an age group of 18-21 year. The second highest additions were in the 22-25 year age group. This means that the fresh graduates coming out of college are no longer struggling for jobs because most of the jobs are going to their kitty. The number of ‘exits’ were lowest in the month of September to only 2.5 lakhs from a peak in March which was close to approx. a million.
Opposition parties have repeatedly claimed that the growth in the country has not translated into jobs. However, when in power, these parties never tried to bring transparency in jobs and the unemployment data. “More than a lack of jobs, the issue is a lack of data on jobs. Our opponents will naturally exploit this opportunity to paint a picture of their choice and blame us,” said PM Modi in an interview with Swarajya magazine. Government has started using EPFO data to calculate the number of formal jobs created in the country. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has more than 120 offices across the country with almost 6 crore people subscribing to its provident fund scheme. EPFO has asked all of its subscribers to link their Aadhaar numbers to track the job growth. The EPFO started publishing monthly payroll data in September last year. Employees State Insurance Corp. (ESIC), a self-financing social security and health insurance scheme has also asked its subscribers to link Aadhaar number as soon as possible. ESIC has almost 4 crore subscribers from formal sector. Therefore linking of Aadhaar by EPFO and ESIC subscribers will help the government to track employment status of almost 10 crore workers.
The formal job growth in the country suggests that the short-term disruptions created in the economy due to monumental decision of demonetisation and GST implementation are over. The economy seems to be back on track and so is the job creation. The economic growth has been consistent for last five quarters– 5.6 in first quarter of last fiscal year, 6.3 in second, 7 in third, 7.7 in fourth and 8.2 in first quarter of this fiscal year. The economic recovery was evident since last quarter of previous fiscal year. GDP growth was 7.7 percent in the last quarter of the previous fiscal. The 8.2 percent growth in the first quarter and strong Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) suggests that economy is poised to grow further. This sustainable growth indicates that economic reforms initiated by the government and sound macroeconomic conditions have been helpful in the consistent economic growth.
The growth in economy with simultaneous increase in number of formal jobs demystifies the claim that economic growth under Modi government did not translate into jobs. These shady claims were made by the left-wing economists who have been looking for some points to criticise the Modi government. Moreover, the GDP growth is healthy and well sustained in the last four years and therefore, the economists came with a bizarre theory that although ‘GDP growth is good but jobs are not growing due to economic policies of the government’. The consistent growth in GDP as well as the number of jobs must be a reply to the bogus theory of the left-wing economists.