India’s formal job sector is witnessing strong growth, despite trying circumstances triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. The opposition, however, is willing to give a complete miss to November 2021’s EPFO job data. It is, on the other hand, very vehemently insinuating that 200 million jobs are missing from India’s informal sector. To an extent, the informal sector has indeed been bleeding due to the pandemic-induced upsets, and the same is expected to be addressed by the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday as she unveils the budget for fiscal 2022-23.
According to the Employee’s Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), formal job creation in India jumped by 37.9% in November 2021, with 1.39 million net new subscribers added to EPFO rolls. Month-on-month, EPFO registered a growth of 25.6% in November, or 0.28 lakh more subscribers were added compared to 1.11 million net new subscribers added in October 2021.
According to the Economic Times, the highest number of net enrolments were registered in the 22-25 years age group with 0.36 million net new additions during November while the 18-21 years age group saw an addition of 0.28 million net enrolments.
Establishments in states like Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra led the formal job creation spree, with 0.84 million subscribers added during the month in these states, which is around 60.60% of total net payroll addition across all age groups.
The growth in the Indian economy, coupled with a simultaneous increase in the number of formal jobs demystifies the claim that economic growth under the Modi government has not translated into jobs. These shady claims are made by left-wing economists and opposition parties, who have been looking for usable points to criticise the Modi government with.
To determine the quantum of unemployed people in India’s informal sector, the opposition parties depend on shady surveys and organisations. Organizations like the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) carry out surveys with very small sample sizes. The conclusion of ‘huge unemployment’ is generally made through a survey with a sample size spanning just over a lakh at the most. These surveys do not even ask proper questions. The question asked to respondents is whether they are ‘employed’. So, even if the person does not have a permanent job, but is earning a decent amount of money, he/she will be considered unemployed.
Surely, in a country of India’s size and scale, unemployment remains a problem. However, the problem does not need to be exaggerated, especially with the Modi government at the helm of affairs. MSMEs contribute nearly 29% of the country’s total GDP, around one-third of the total manufacturing output and around 40% of the total exports. They are described as the growth engines of the Indian economy and employ roughly 11 crore people. This is why the Modi government paid special attention to this sector and managed to save a whopping 1.5 crore jobs!
Read more: Huge! How Modi Govt rescued 13.5 lakh MSMEs saving a whopping 1.5 crore jobs
As reported by TFI earlier in January, the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) has helped save around 13.5 lakh units and 1.5 crore jobs in the MSME sector. Of the 13.5 lakh MSME accounts that have been saved, almost 93.7% are in the micro and small category. So, the most vulnerable enterprises have been the major beneficiaries of the scheme. The Credit Guarantee Scheme has helped the Modi government save MSME loan accounts worth Rs. 1.8 lakh crore from slipping into non-performing assets (NPA).
Jobs in India remain a big issue, but the fearmongering used by Congress, and lies spread by the opposition are far from reality. The growth of jobs in India’s formal sector testifies to the same.