NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya Friday said the government has taken cognisance of the matter related to employment and jobs' scenario in the country. It decided to conduct an annual household survey for rural and urban areas to arrive at a number of employed and unemployed people in the country. The same would also be updated on a quarterly basis.
The survey is being conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and preliminary work on the same has already started from April.
Additionally, inputs are also being sought from Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and National Pension Scheme (NPS) to give an estimate of the formal sector employment.
Panagariya also said that existing surveys on employment, which includes the one on quarterly employment survey done by the labour bureau, are insufficient as they are not based on any random samples. Moreover, till 2015, the quarterly employment survey covered only 11 states.
"The findings of the labour survey can't be extrapolated to say that jobs haven't been created in the economy as the data is inadequate," Panagariya said while addressing a press conference on three years of Niti Aayog.
He said that the labour survey has covered just three crore employees but the total labour force in the country, including agriculture labours, is over 470 million.
"The debate on jobs so far has happened in a vacuum in the absence of adequate supportive data," Panagariya said.
On the question of big layoffs in the information technology (IT) sector, the vice-chairman said that according to his information, around 600,000 net jobs have been created in IT sector in the last three years.
"In a dynamic economy job creation and destruction is a continuous process as people move out to higher technological levels," Panagariya said.
On the country's economic health, Panagariya said that as per his assessment, the economy is expected to grow at 7.5 per cent in 2017-18 and, thereafter, reach 8 per cent before the term of Narendra Modi government ends in 2019.
"In the subsequent years as per my expectation, the economy will remain over 8 per cent for some time," Panagariya said.
He also said that the NITI Aayog after suggesting a roadmap for development for Uttar Pradesh is now trying to work with the new Congress government of Punjab for a roadmap for their development. That apart, in the coming years it is also trying to work three states to improve their health and education parameters.
The vice-chairman said NITI Aayog has put forward all its proposals on Air India sale now it is up to the government to take a call as to whether it wants to divest the company or not, whose debt is pegged to be over Rs 52,000 crore.
When asked if the government wants domestic or foreign buyers, he said that's something that will "have to be addressed by the government".
On the recent allegations by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliates Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch that the policy think-tank has become immune to Indian ethos and labour problems in the country, Panagariya said all its recommendations in the three-year action agenda are meant to generate big jobs in the country.