The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the press note on Employment Outlook of the country covering the period September, 2017 to October, 2020 based on the administrative records available with selected government agencies to assess the progress in certain dimensions.
Since April, 2018 this Ministry has been bringing out the employment related statistics in the formal sector covering the period September 2017 onwards, using information on the number of subscribers who have subscribed under three major schemes, namely the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).
As mentioned in the earlier series, since the numbers of subscribers are from various sources, there are elements of overlap and the estimates are not additive. Detailed information is separately published on the respective organizational websites for the period September, 2017 to October, 2020.
The information is based on the number of subscribers, and the tables reflect a dynamic status for four sets of periods – (a) September 2017 – March 2018, (b) April 2018 – March 2019, (c) April 2019 – March 2020 and (d) monthly data from April 2020 onwards. The data in Section 2.1 includes information gender-wise, on the number of new members who have started subscribing to EPF, the number of members that have ceased their subscription and the number of members who restarted contribution, having ceased subscription in the past.
The data in Section 2.2 includes information gender-wise, in respect of ESI, on the number of existing employees who paid contribution and the number of newly registered employees who are paying contribution during the period. The data in Section 2.3 includes information gender-wise, in respect of NPS, on the existing subscribers and new subscribers contributing during the period.
In view of the national lockdown consequent to the COVID-19 pandemic, several establishments were closed and which may have had implications on the reporting. The reported figures are thus likely to undergo significant revision in the next few months.
The present report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level. The Ministry welcomes suggestions for improvement in content, coverage and presentation.
A detailed note is annexed.
