New Delhi: On Monday, the Union Labour Ministry released the Quarterly Employment Survey (QUS) which revealed that employment in nine primary non-farm sectors of the economy increased by 29% up to 3.08 crore in the first quarter of 2021-22. Previously, the sixth economic census in 2013-14 had reported a rise up to 2.37 crore.
The nine primary sectors on which the survey was done included manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurant, IT/BPO and financial services. Compared to the 2013-14 economic census, the IT/BPO sector recorded 152% growth, which is the highest in this period. The health sector recorded the second-highest growth with a 77% rise, followed by financial services (48%), education (39%), manufacturing (22%), transport (68%) and construction (42%).
However, employment in the trade and accommodation and restaurant sectors recorded a decline of 25% and 13%, respectively, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in which the two service sectors had to shut down temporarily.
According to the survey, manufacturing accounts for 41% of the total employment in the nine primary sectors. The education sector accounts for 22% of the employment while health accounts for 8% of the employment.
Trade and IT/BPO recorded 7% of the total estimated number of employees. The QES report also stated that employment witnessed a dip in 27% of the 12,000 establishments that were surveyed. The dip was loss induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the QES report, 69.5% of the establishment witnessed no change in employment while 26.7% reported a decrease in employment as of July 1, 2020, compared to March 25, 2020. It is to be mentioned that the government had imposed the strictest lockdown during the period of March 25, 2020, to June 30, 2020, as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus.
During the nationwide lockdown, The QES report recorded that employment decreased in 38.1% establishments of the manufacturing sector, 34.5% in the construction sector and 34.4% in the accommodation and restaurant sector. An increase of 7% in employment was registered by the health sector during the lockdown.
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