The current Modi government has often been accused of leading the country through a phase of ‘jobless growth’, which in simple words means “even as the economy for a country grows, unemployment remains stubbornly high.” But the triangulation of data from jobs created in different sector paints a different story. The triangulation method of data collection to measure employment generation is used in most developed countries and it is considered the best method to measure unemployment. The data from sectors like MSME, automobile, IT, Khadi and village industries tells many jobs were created in the last five years.
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission created more than 20 lakh new jobs in the last five years of the Modi government. The Commission chairman Vinay Kumar Saxena said that they achieved success in 100 percent implementation of Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP).“Incredible as it may sound, amid much debate about job crisis in the nation, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, leading from the front, has created 20,63,152 new jobs and set up 2,67,226 new projects under its ambitious Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) in the last five fiscals, i.e. between 2014-15 to 2018-19,” said Saxena.
As per a survey conducted by ‘Confederation of Indian Industry’ (CII), Modi government generated 1.49 crore jobs per year in MSME sector. That’s a whopping 6 crore jobs in the last 4 years. As the CII survey, the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana created the highest number of jobs in the MSME sector.
Earlier the data from EPFO revealed that the country has created 2 crore jobs in the last 16 month. 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.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the flagship housing scheme of Modi government created more than 60 lakh jobs from 2015 to 2019. The scheme which was aimed at creating housing for all was launched in June 2015 and has created 61.49 lakh jobs so far. The housing for all has been highly successful in urban as well as rural areas. Thousands of people from marginalized sections of society in rural areas got houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The study carried by Housing ministry and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy has created 18.92 lakh direct jobs and 42.57 lakh jobs through indirect effects.
Surjit Bhalla, acclaimed economist and public intellectual, has raised questions on NSSO’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the period July 2017-June 2018. He wrote an article in the English daily, The Indian Express titled ‘A statistical embarrassment’. Given the fact that triangulation of data from different sectors is considered much better method, it is very clear ‘jobless growth’ theory is myth and the corporate India has created many jobs in last five years.