Govt move to bring transparency in employment related data releases

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The Government has taken measures in recent past to bring in more transparency in employment related data releases. It would like to present a proper perspective on these issues so that the end users and public at large become aware of the processes involved in generation of these estimates.

Labour Bureau conducts two major surveys on employment scenario i.e Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey (EUS) and Quarterly Employment Survey (QES). So far, five Annual Employment-Unemployment Surveys have been conducted by Labour Bureau and reports on all five surveys have been released. The field work of Sixth Annual Employment Unemployment Survey (2016-17) has been completed and data entry validation work is in progress. The report pertaining to 6^th Annual EUS is to be completed by September, 2018, according to a PIB release.

On the recommendations of Task Force on Employment chaired by Arvind Panagariya, the then Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, the Annual Employment Unemployment Survey has been replaced by Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) being conducted by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The Periodic Labour Force Survey would not only have annual data on employment-unemployment on rural sector but will also have quarterly data on employment-unemployment on urban sector based on larger sample size.

The Quarterly Employment survey (New Series) is an enterprise based survey carried out with an objective to measure relative change in employment situation over successive quarters for the establishments having 10 or more workers. The QES has, however,  several limitations. The Government has constituted a Technical Committee under the Chairmanship of former Chief Statistician Prof  T C A Anant to look into the above aspects and submit its report at the earliest.

The Employees Provident fund Organization (EPFO), a statutory organization under Ministry of Labour & Employment, has commenced releasing payroll data on monthly basis.  Under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), 46.36 lakh new employees covering 58,400 establishments have been enrolled.