Government forms task force to boost employment data collection
The government has recognized the need to improve how employment data is collected and analyzed across different departments. To address this, a high-level task force will be formed to streamline efforts and better integrate existing job figures.
Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a meeting where this decision was taken. Present were Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and senior bureaucrats dealing with employment-related portfolios. Industry groups like FICCI and CII also participated to give their input.
The Minister noted that although many schemes directly and indirectly lead to job creation, employment data currently exists in separate silos with different departments. A centralized system is required to paint a complete picture of how many opportunities are being generated.
The task force will bring together representatives from 19 key Ministries and departments. Their mandate will be to create links and consolidate disparate data sources on employment maintained by each one. Only by integrating these can true impact of various programmes on job creation be assessed.
Attention was also turned to the ₹2 lakh crore allocation for employment and skilling in this Budget. This includes ₹10,000 cr to Ministry of Labour for new incentive schemes and ₹2,000 cr for corporate internship programme. However, as financial year ends in March, only ₹12,000 cr could be utilized this time with priority on the incentives.
Gaps in current employment metrics were underlined. Separate datasets from the labour ministry, statistics body and EPFO need to be blended for a comprehensive overview. The new coordination structure will work to improve how the nationwide employment scenario is captured and communicated.
