Rebuttal to Citigroup's Research Report on Employment in India

New Delhi: The recent Citigroup research report on employment in India, which forecasts that India will struggle to create sufficient employment opportunities even with a 7 percent growth rate, fails to account for the comprehensive and positive employment data available from official sources such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the Reserve Bank of India's KLEMS data. 

The Ministry of Labour and Employment strongly rebuts such reports, which do not analyze all official data sources available in the public domain.

According to PLFS and RBI's KLEMS data, India has generated more than 8 crore (80 million) employment opportunities from 2017-18 to 2021-22, translating to an average of over 2 crore (20 million) employment per year. This significant employment creation demonstrates the effectiveness of various government initiatives aimed at boosting employment across sectors. The Annual PLFS report depicts an improving trend in labour market indicators related to Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above from 2017-18 to 2022-23.

The formal sector employment figures are also being bolstered by government efforts to improve the ease of doing business, enhance skill development, and provide incentives for job creation in both the public and private sectors. 

The EPFO data suggests that more and more workers are joining formal jobs. During 2023-24, more than 1.3 crore subscribers joined EPFO, which is more than double compared to 61.12 lakh who joined EPFO during 2018-19. Moreover, during the last six and half years (from September 2017 to March 2024), more than 6.2 crore net subscribers have joined EPFO.

Flexi-staffing sector data shows that more than 7.75 lakh new subscribers have joined the National Pension System (NPS) during 2023-24 under the Central and State governments, 30% more than 5.94 lakh new subscribers joining NPS under the government sector during 2022-23.