NITI Aayog
Monthly Payroll Data released for the first time
Numbers indicate the efforts made by the Government on job
creation and formalization of the economy.
26 APR 2018
The
Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Employees' State
Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the Pension fund Regulatory and
Development Authority (PFRDA) have released payroll data.
India
has, for the first time, introduced monthly payroll reporting for the
formal sector to facilitate analysis of new and continuing employment.
The payroll data, categorized age-wise, for the months September,
2017 to February, 2018 has been released on 25th April, 2018.
The
numbers from these three organisations are an eye opener and put an end
to all speculations and conjectures regarding job creation in the
economy. They also strengthen the efforts made by the Government on job
creation and formalization of the economy.
There are other
organisations also, such as ICAI, Bar Council, Medical Council and other
professional bodies which could have such monthly data for payroll
reporting for their professionals.
Data released by EPFO shows
that during September, 2017 to February, 2018, 31.10 lakh new additions
across all age groups were made in the payroll. Given that the data for
recent months is provisional due to continuous updation of employee
records, this could be called a conservative estimate. The actual
figures may well be more than this.
From the PFRDA, the New
Pension Scheme (NPS) data indicates generation of 4.2 lakh new payroll
during the given period, that too only from Tier-I account. NPS
currently manages the corpus of around 50 lakh employees in State and
Central government. For this study the Central and State autonomous
bodies have been shown under Central and State governments respectively,
while non-government refers to the corporate sector employees.
From the above two organisations itself, 35.3 lakh new payrolls were
generated during this six month period.
In
addition, the ESIC data also mirrors the payroll growth shown in the
other two sets of data from EPFO and PFRDA. Since ESIC data is not
Aadhar seeded there is further scope of some modifications.
The
payroll data from these three organisations would now be released every
month. Given that till now there was no such system in place, this data
would provide a more firm basis for various analysis and studies of the
economy, job creation, as also aid in policy making. We may as well as
bid goodbye to the days of analyses based on random sample surveys.
Hopefully this would also end the debate regarding and criticisms about
jobless growth in the economy.
A more constructive phase of
focusing on deriving the most out of this data for furthering development
should now begin.
PIB
