Centre dismisses Citigroup's claim that India would struggle to create jobs

Centre said it has generated over 8 crore job opportunities between 2017-18 to 2021-22, , contradicting Citigroup's assertion a potential lack of employment in India.

The Centre has issued a rebuttal to a recent Citigroup research note that had raised concerns over the pace of job creation.

The report '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', Ministry of Labour and Employment said.

Citigroup had said that India would struggle to create enough jobs for its growing population over the next decade, even if the country grew at a 7 percent growth rate, and suggested more concerted steps were needed to boost employment creation.

Ministry clarified that India has generated over 8 crore job opportunities between 2017-18 to 2021-22, which translates to an average of over 2 crore (20 million) jobs per year. This, despite the COVID-19 disruption, contradicts Citigroup's assertion a potential lack of employment in India.

Citi's economists Samiran Chakraborty and Baqar Zaidi had written in the report that based on a growth rate of 7 percent, India can only generate 8-9 million jobs a year.

Labour Ministry said that the official data sources has shown 'consistent improvements' in labour market indicators, and a falling unemployment rate in the last five years. It also added that EPFO and NPS data further backs this positive employment trend, with manufacturing, services, infrastructure, and other emerging opportunities such as gig and platform economy and GCCs showing 'robust future prospects'.

The Labour Ministry also cautioned against selective use of private data sources that can lead to distortion about India's job scenario.

Meanwhile, RBI data released on July 8 showed that India provisionally created 46.7 million jobs in the financial year 2023-24, taking the total employment to 643.3 million.

India's employment growth rate stood at 6% in 2023-24, as against 3.2% in the previous fiscal year, the RBI's report showed.