Congress General Secretary and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh File photo: Special arrangement

Rejecting the central government’s claim to make Eight million job opportunities between 2021 and 2024 As a “half-truth”, the Congress on Monday claimed that “no amount of spin-doctoring can take away the fact that 2014-24 saw an increase in employment”.

In a statement, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “Amidst the turmoil and scandals of the last few months of this vacillating government, the non-biological PM and his drumbeats have tried to find some solace. The economic record claims to create 80 million jobs between 2021 and 2024.

Mr. Ramesh said that this claim has initially come from RBI’s LEMS. [K: Capital, L: Labour, E: Energy, M: Materials and S: Services] The figure, which was earlier contested by the Congress on July 15, 2024. “Government spin doctors have now collected another figure – that of 6.2 crore net users who joined the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) database between September 2017 and March 2024. Both claims are half-truths. are,” he added.

‘Overestimation’

Congress leader said The government has adopted a broad definition of employment. – without recording the standards and conditions of employment – which is recording unpaid domestic work performed by women as “employment”. Many people employed in the formal sector shifted to the agriculture sector during the COVID pandemic, and these shifts were made to less productive informal and agricultural jobs as jobs were created in the KLEMS data, Mr. Ramesh claimed. .

“Finally, in the absence of a population census since 2011, KLEMS statisticians assumed population levels to arrive at their estimates. Several economists have indicated that the population estimates used were too high, As a result, the job creation was overestimated,” he said.

EPFO subscribers

Further, he argued that the government cited the addition of 6.2 crore net users in the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) database to bolster its claim on employment growth, without revealing the whole picture.

He said the EPFO ​​only tracked the organized sector, which was less than 10 percent of total employment. According to a Supreme Court ruling in 2020, any firm employing 20 people, even contractual employees, must register with EPFO. The Congress leader said whenever a firm goes from 19 employees to 20 employees, every employee including the first employee comes under the purview of EPFO.

“However much statistical juggling they engage in, the truth remains: India’s unemployment rate today is the highest it has been in 45 years, with graduate youth unemployment at 42%. This crisis is of the government’s own making. “This is due to the elimination of MSMEs that created jobs through demonetisation, the rush through GST, an unplanned COVID-19 lockdown, and rising imports from China,” said Mr. Ramesh. .

“The final straw has been the Prime Minister’s economic policy of supporting a few big business groups, which is destroying competition and also affecting inflation. No amount of spin-doctoring can remove this fact: 2014- 24 has seen an increase in employment,” he added.