Labour Ministry puts quarterly employment survey on hold: Report

The quarterly employment survey (QES) has been put on hold as the Labour Ministry’s survey does not account for the more recent payroll data, which has projected that over 35 lakh jobs were added in the formal economy in the six months between September 2017 and March 2018. However, the sixth and seventh QES shows a total of 2 lakh jobs created between April-September 2017.

Labour Ministry’s QES provides the number of jobs created in eight sectors that account for over 80 percent of the country’s total organised workforce, and in order to add the payroll data, which has projected much higher number of jobs created in the organised sector, the QES has been put on hold, reports The Economic Times.

The eighth quarterly employment survey for October-December 2017 quarter was due in May. While QES is the survey for collating jobs created in the organised sector, the ministry has undertaken area field survey for collating jobs in the unorganised sector, or firms with less than 10 employees.

The payroll count is the first-ever estimate that is based on Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscription and data from the Employees State Insurance Corporation and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.

Because of time lag and significantly low numbers, the QES data is now considered to be redundant and the government has decided to make payroll data a regular exercise.

“There is a possibility that the ministry may not come out with the QES in the organised sector as the government has recently decided to make the payroll data a regular exercise. Since both of these reflect the number of jobs created in the organised sector, there’s significant overlap in the work done and there could even be some mismatch between those numbers,” a senior official told the paper.

The seventh quarterly employment survey data showed that only 1.36 lakh jobs were created across eight sectors, which account for 81 percent of the country’s total organised workforce, in the July-October quarter of 2017. This was more than double the 64,000 jobs created in the preceding quarter and more than four times the 32,000 jobs created a year ago.

However, the Labour Ministry has something else to say on the delay of the QES. According to the ministry, it is lack of manpower that has put the eighth QES on hold.

“The eighth QES has been put on hold as manpower is now being deployed for the area field survey that will collate jobs created in the unorganised sector,” a senior ministry official said.