Centre may Complain Against ILO Employment Report

Context

The Indian government is considering filing a complaint against the International Labour Organization (ILO) over its recent India Employment Report 2024, which was released in March this year. The report, prepared by the ILO and the Institute of Human Development (IHD), has raised concerns within the Union Labour Ministry regarding the data and methodology used to assess the employment scenario in India.

Discrepancies in Data and Methodology

• A senior official from the Union Labour Ministry has claimed that the “model” that has been adopted by the ILO so as to judge the employment picture in India is not appropriate and that India can provide its own separate score of the situation. The official identified a disparity between the statistics employed by the ILO and the statistics being used in that country.
• The report said that India’s youth account for almost 83% of the unemployed workforce and that the share of youngsters with secondary or higher education in the total unemployed has almost doubled from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022. However, the government has expressed doubts over the data provided by private agencies such as the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

Government’s Stance and Initiatives

• The Centre has been maintaining that PLFS has better data on employment situation in India Sweeping statements like these suggest that. Minister of State for Labour Shobha Karandlaje replying to the Lok sabha on July 29 said that unemployment rate of youths in the country is declining. She added that “employment generation accompanied by a rise in employability is the objective of the Government”, and censured that “steps have been taken to generate employment in India”.
• It was recently that the Ministry of Labour and Employment resolved to prepare a complete scenario of employment and unemployment data. During a meeting with around 20 secretaries from different Ministries regarding proposed mechanism on employment data, Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya highlighted to make cross-linkages of different employment data base/information base and assimilation/integration of the same to build comprehensive structure/institution for mimicking the employment generation picture in the country.

ILO’s India Employment Report 2024

• This paper uses official employment statistics to outline the latest trends in the Indian labour market, synthesised from the ILO’s India Employment Report 2024. The presented report reveals some positive changes in some indicators while introducing the remaining issues, primarily, those related to youth unemployment, education, and skills.
• The report is made in memory of Ajit K. Ghose (1947–2023), who contributed actively to the themes of labour markets and employment in the course of his long career in ILO and IHD. The report is marked by contributions from a number of specialists: Ravi Srivastava, Alakh N. Sharma, Balwant Singh Mehta, G. C. Manna, Tanuka Endow, and Siddharth Dhote.

Implications and Way Forward

• It is in this light that the government’s decision to lodge a complaint against the ILO’S report stresses on the measures required for gathering credible data on employment situation in the Indian economy. Thus, contradictions between the results of the government and ILO reports point to the necessity of the integrated and unique data system that comprehensively characterizedIndian Labour Market.
• Present government’s endeavors, like establishment of a broad structural model for employment and unemployment and focusing on employment creation and skill development for such an objective, are encouraging. Nevertheless, such actions should be supported by solid empirical data and accompanied by cooperation with such global institutions as the ILO.

Conclusion

Therefore, lodging a complaint to the ILO on the India Employment Report 2024 is one of the Centre’s efforts of providing the right picture in relation to employment in the country. These differences in data and methods are quite expected, nevertheless, such problems must be discussed and solved with intention to enhance the living standards of Indian workers, especially the young people.

Source: The Hindu