Nearly 2 crore jobs created in 16 months to December 2018: CSO report

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Nearly 2 crore jobs were created in 16 months to December 2018, according to the payroll data of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

The ESIC data is one of payroll numbers released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in its reports based on people joining various social security schemes run by Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA).

The ESIC provides health insurance and medical services to its insured person covering all those establishment which have 20 or more workers and all those employees whose monthly wages are up to Rs 21,000.

During September 2017 and December 2018, as many as 1.96 crore new subscribers joined the scheme.

Similarly, the EPFO data showed that employment generation in the formal sector almost trebled to touch a 16-month high of 7.16 lakh in December 2018 compared to 2.37 lakh in the year-ago month. It indicated that around 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the EPFO from September 2017 to December 2018.

The EPFO covers all those firms that have 20 or more employees. Workers whose basic wages are up to Rs 15,000 per month at the time of joining the job are mandatorily covered under the scheme.

The estimated number of new NPS (National Pension Scheme) subscribers during the period September 2017 to December 2018 is 9,66,381. The NPS covers central and state government employees while others can voluntarily subscribes to it.

The present report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level, the report said.