‘Jobs jumped during Oct.-Dec.’

Labour survey shows employment rose despite note ban

Highest job creation was in the manufacturing sector.

The October-December period saw an almost fourfold jump in job creation — a time frame coinciding with the Centre’s demonetisation move, according to the latest quarterly survey conducted by the Labour Bureau.

However, casual workers suffered the most even as more regular workers were added to the workforce, the survey showed.

In October-December, 1.22 lakh jobs were created compared with 32,000 jobs in July-September and 77,000 jobs in April-June last year. The the Labour and Employment Ministry’s Labour Bureau conducted the fourth round of quarterly survey in eight sectors — manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurants and information technology.

Employment increased in all sectors except construction. Compared to this, jobs had declined in four out of eight sectors in the previous quarter. The bureau’s survey showed highest job creation in manufacturing with new jobs for 83,000 workers compared with 24,000 workers in the previous quarter.

The construction sector saw a decline by 1,000 workers in October-December.

‘Statistical aberration’

“This looks like a statistical aberration since demonetisation led to job losses in the short-term,” said Alakh N Sharma, Director, Institute of Human Development, “There is no possibility that job creation shot up three times during October-December period.”

Casual workers lost the most number of jobs — 1.52 lakh — last quarter.