Labour ministry’s quarterly employment survey (QES), that provides the number of jobs created in eight sectors that account for over 80% of the country’s total organized workforce, has been put on hold on account of the more recent payroll data.

The eighth quarterly employment survey (QES) for October-December 2017 quarter was due in May.

As per a media report, the recent payroll data has projected a much higher number of jobs created in the organized sector than the labour bureau survey shows. 

It is to be remembered that as per the government’s first-ever estimate of payroll count based on Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscription, data from the Employees State Insurance Corporation, and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority released in April this year, over 35 lakh jobs were added in the formal economy in the six months between September 2017 and March 2018. 

In contrast, the 6th and 7th QES shows only a total of 2 lakh jobs created between April-September 2017. 

Though the periods are not comparable as QES data comes with a lag, the latter is redundant considering its significantly low numbers and time lag. The seventh QES data showed only 1.36 lakh jobs were created across eight sectors, which account for 81% of the country’s total organized workforce, in the July-October quarter of 2017. 

As per an anonymous source cited by ET, there is a possibility that labour ministry may not come out with the QES in the organized sector as the government has recently decided to make the payroll data a regular exercise. 

However, there are also reports that it may have been put on hold because of manpower crunch as the manpower is being deployed for the area field survey that will collate jobs created in the unorganized sector. 

This is, however, contrary to the original idea wherein the labour ministry had planned to come out with two parallel surveys, one for the organized sector and the other for unorganized sector.

Meanwhile, while the EPFO data had bolstered the government’s claims on job creation, an issue it has been facing criticism on, but experts also pointed out that counting new additions to provident fund subscribers may not provide an accurate picture.