Government has launched All-India Quarterly Establishment Based Employment Survey (AQEES) in April, 2021. As per the result of the first round of Quarterly Employment Survey for the period April to June 2021, employment increased to 3.08 crore in the nine selected sectors of the economy against a total of 2.37 crores in these sectors taken collectively, as reported in the sixth Economic Census (2013-14) reflecting a growth rate of 29%. The most impressive growth of 152 percent has been recorded in the IT/BPO sector, while growth rates in Health is 77 percent, in Education it is 39 percent, in Manufacturing it is 22 percent, in Transport it is 68 percent and in Construction it is 42 percent.

As per annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) reports, the details of the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above on usual status basis in the country are 6 in 2017-18, 5.8 in 2018-19 and 4.8 in 2019-20.

Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the Government. Accordingly, the Government of India has taken various steps for generating employment in the country. The Government of India is encouraging various projects involving substantial investment and public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)of the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)of the Ministry of Rural Development, Deen Dayal Antodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana (PMKVY) of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) etc.

The Government of India has announced Aatmanirbhar Bharat package to provide stimulus to business and to mitigate the adverse impact of Covid 19. Under this package, the Government is providing fiscal stimulus of more than Rs. Twenty Seven lakh crore. Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY), Government of India has contributed both 12% employer’s share and 12% employee’s share under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), totaling 24% of the wage for the wage month from March to August, 2020 for the establishments having 100 employees with 90% of such employees earning less than Rs. 15000/.    

The Government has also launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) of 125 days on 20th June, 2020 to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for returnee migrant workers and similarly affected persons including youth in rural areas, in 116 selected districts across 6 States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Abhiyaan has achieved an employment generation of 50.78 crore persondays with a total expenditure of Rs 39,293 crore.

Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) has been launched with effect from 1st October, 2020 as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package 3.0 to incentivize employers for creation of new employment along with social security benefits and restoration of loss of employment during Covid-19 pandemic. This scheme being implemented through the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), seeks to reduce the financial burden of the employers and encourages them to hire more workers. The terminal date for registration of beneficiaries has been extended from 30.06.2021 to 31.03.2022. Benefits have been provided to 39.59 lakh beneficiaries through 1.17 lakh establishments.

Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme has been launched on June 01, 2020 to provide working capital loans to Street Vendors, vending in urban areas, to resume their businesses, which were impacted adversely due to COVID-19. Under this scheme, amount of Rs 2641.46 crore has been disbursed to 26.46 lakh beneficiaries.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is being implemented by the Government for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY, collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities Upto November 2021, 31.28 crore loans were sanctioned under the scheme.

Besides these initiatives, various flagship programmes of the Government such as Make in India, Digital India, Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Housing for All, Infrastructure Development and Industrial Corridors and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme are also oriented towards generating productive employment opportunities.

This information was given by Shri Rameswar Teli, Minister of State, Ministry of Labour & Employment in Lok Sabha today.

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