Total employment in 9 select sectors rises to 3.10 crore in July-September 2021

An estimated 3.10 crore people are working in nine core non-farming sectors, including manufacturing, construction and transport, in July-September last year, marking a rise of two lakh from April-June quarter and from 2.37 crore reported in the Economic Census of 2013-14, a government survey said on Monday.

The second round of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for July-September 2021 released by Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav also showed women participation in the workforce of these nine sectors was 32.1%, up from 29.3% reported during the first round of QES.

According to the Economic Census of 2013-14, the latest available, 2.37 crore people were employed in nine core non-farming sectors -- manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurants, IT/BPOs and financial services. The women participation in the workforce was 31% in 2013-14.

Also read: Employment in 9 non-farm sectors at 3.08 crore in Apr-Jun, up by 29% from 2013-14

The QES, an establishment-based survey, is aimed to provide employment estimates for a sizable segment of the non-farm economy covering nine sectors and the first round was held in April-June last year. The nine sectors chosen for the survey account for around 85% of the total employment in the establishments with 10 or more workers.

The manufacturing sector accounted for the highest estimated employment at 39.1%, but it was lower than 40.6% reported in the first round of survey. The education sector came second with 22%, up from 21.8% in the first round followed by Health 10.8% as against 8.4% and IT/BPO sector 10.7%, a substantial increase from 6.7% recorded in the first round of the survey.

The transport sector was another sector which saw a rise in employment -- from 4.3% to 4.6% -- along with accommodation and the restaurant sector 2.4% to 2.5%.

However, employment in the trade sector witnessed a slide from 6.6% to 5.3% while financial services saw a sharp dip from 5.7% to 2.8%.

The survey showed that 90% of the establishments have been estimated to work with less than 100 workers, though 30% of the IT/BPO establishments worked with at least 100 workers, including about 12% engaging 500 workers or more. The survey showed that the IT/BPO sector had only 21% establishments with 100 to 499 employees during the first round while it was 14% in the more than 500 employees category.

In the Health sector, 19% of the establishments had 100 or more workers. Also, in the case of the transport sector, 14% of the total estimated establishments were operating with 100 or more workers.

Regular workers constitute 87% of the estimated workforce in the nine selected sectors, with only 2% being casual workers. However, in the Construction sector, 20% of the workers were contractual and 6.4% were casual workers.

Also read: 23.6 lakh in non-farming sectors lost jobs during first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020

Most (98.3%) of the establishments were located outside households, though a highest 5.1 % of units in the accommodation and restaurants sector were found to operate from within households.

On the education front, the survey said 28.4% of those working in seven of the nine sectors -- excluding Education and Health -- were matriculates/secondary or less educated, while another 37% were graduates or had higher qualifications. In fact, the share of graduates or above was as high as 91.6% in the IT/BPO sector and 59.8% in Financial Services. In the Health sector, as few as 18% of the non-clinical workers were matriculates/secondary or less educated, the figure being 26.4% in the non-teaching staff of the education sector. More than 40% of the employees in these two sectors were at least graduates.

Estimated Number of Workers*

Manufacturing -- 1,21,40,949

Construction -- 6,07,013

Trade -- 16,45,934

Transport -- 14,44,410

Education -- 68,47,572

Health -- 33,45,206

Accommodation & Restaurants -- 7,77,437

IT/BPOs -- 33,21,288

Financial Services -- 8,73,336

* In firms with 10 or more workers

Source: 2nd round of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for July-September 2021