The country has created 2 crore jobs in the last 16 months as per the data from social security scheme subscribers. Central Statistics Organization (CSO) has released the data of subscribers of social security schemes like Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) and Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) and Employee State Insurance Corporation. 1.96 Crore new subscribers were added to EPFO from September 2017 to December 2018. EPFO covers all the firms which have 20 or more people with salary up to 15,000 rupees per month. ESIC provides insurance cover to companies with 20 or more people with monthly salary up to 21,000 rupees.
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.
