The recent rise in job opportunities may have made the headlines, but the reality is far from positive. While nearly 8 lakh people were added to the formal workforce in India in the April-June quarter, good jobs in manufacturing, financial establishments, and core engineering firms are far from making a recovery, reported LiveMint, citing the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) data.
The report said that of the 8,00,000 people added to the formal workforce in the quarter, about half a million were added in June alone, however, these payroll additions were made in "poorly paid jobs" while most parts of the formal sectors were yet to recover.
“The recovery across industries is yet to happen. The MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector is still in turmoil. The recovery that you see is largely driven by the expert service payroll additions. And they are largely not considered decent jobs. A segment of them may have decent jobs, but a large portion of the expert services payroll additions is low-paid jobs," an unnamed government official was quoted as saying in the report.
While nearly a quarter of a million 18-25-year-olds joined the expert services payrolls last quarter, there were only 9,000 payroll additions in trading and commercial establishments, 16,000 in core engineering and a mere 649 in financial establishments, the report highlighted.
The report comes after The International Labour Organization warned the country that the youth unemployment rate in India may touch 32.5 percent if the country fails to tame the pandemic by end-September.
