Employment growth has slowed down in last 3 years: Govt

New Delhi: Employment growth has shown signs of slowdown in key labour-intensive and export-oriented sectors, despite GDP growth of up to 7.6 percent in the last three years, Parliament was informed Wednesday.

As per an information received from the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the job growth has been slow in eight select sectors in the last three years, Statistics Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

The Minister was quoting the Quick Quarterly Surveys on Employment and Un-employment conducted by the Labour Bureau.

The GDP growth rate at constant (2011-12) prices for the years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 are 6.6 percent, 7.2 percent and 7.6 percent respectively, he informed the House.

In eight sectors like textiles, leather and gems & jewellery, 1.35 lakh jobs were created in calender year 2015, which was much lower than 4.21 lakh in 2014 and 4.18 lakh in 2013.

The Minister said the government has taken various steps for generating employment like encouraging private sector of economy, fast tracking various projects involving substantial investment and increasing public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).

He said a Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been established to coordinate the skill activities across all ministries.

In order to improve the employability of youth, around 20 ministries run skill development schemes across 70 sectors.

"Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana" has been announced in 2016-17 Budget with the objective of promoting employment generation and an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore has been made, he said.

The scheme is being implemented by the Labour Ministry. Under the scheme, employers would be provided an incentive for enhancing employment by reimbursement of the 8.33 percent EPS contribution made by the employer in respect of new employment.