India's employment in the formal sector, which offers better quality jobs, has kept up its growth momentum during the first half of the current financial year with an increase in new additions across the three social security schemes compared to the same period last year, according to official figures.
New enrolments to the Employees' Provident Fund scheme, which applies to larger organisations and better-paid employees, increased by 2.3 per cent-6.1 million in the first half of 2024-25 (April - September) compared to the same period of the previous year.
New subscriptions to Employees' State Insurance Corporation, which applies to smaller organizations, grew at a faster pace of 5.2 per cent with 9.3 million additions during the first half of the current financial year.
Similarly, subscriptions to the National Pension System were also 6.8 per cent higher reflecting the rising number of employees coming into better job streams.
The quality of jobs saw an improvement. This could also be inferred from the most recent monthly review of the economy done by the Finance Ministry.
"As far as employment is concerned, the formal workforce is increasing. The growth in manufacturing jobs has been notable and there has been a strong inflow of youth into organized sectors," it said.
The report says that the EPFO added 9.5 lakh new members in September 2024. Interestingly, 59.9 percent of the new members added in September 2024 were in the 18 - 25 age group and parallel to the trend that most of those who join the organised workforce are youngsters, mostly first-time job seekers.
The employment sub-index of the purchasing managers continued to be in the expansionary zone, for the eighth successive month, which returned in October. Though the employment in the manufacturing sector eased somewhat in September, it picked up again, according to the report, through the revival of the sub-index in October.
Employment in services recorded a sharp growth with the employment sub-index at its highest level over the past 26 months. The Naukri Jobspeak index indicates that hiring activity in white-collar jobs is expanding, with growth spiking to 2733 points in October 2024, which marked a high 10 per cent year-over-year jump, the report added.
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