Labour and Employment Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday spearheaded interministerial discussions on the creation of a centralized jobs database. Mandaviya highlighted the fragmentation of employment data across various agencies and ministries, suggesting that this could hinder a comprehensive understanding of hiring trends.
Union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal, Mandaviya, and Labour Secretary Sumita Dawra, along with representatives from over a dozen ministries and agencies, participated in the meeting. “We need to create connections between different data sources. Data should not exist in silos,” Mandaviya stated.
Currently, employment statistics are generated by multiple entities, including the Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Statistics, which conducts quarterly and annual Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS).
Additionally, payroll data is managed by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme, the National Pension Scheme, and the state-run think tank Niti Aayog, among others.
An official, speaking anonymously, noted, “Several ministries maintain records of employment generated through different federal programs they administer. This could lead to the government underestimating total job creation in a given period.”
While the National Statistical Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is the main body for tracking crucial data like GDP growth and job creation, the Labour and Employment Ministry is responsible for workforce policies and social schemes.
“The absence of a central database means the government lacks a mechanism to access comprehensive job data reported by various ministries,” the official added.
Existing employment tracking systems, such as the NSO’s flagship sample surveys, will remain in place.
The plan involves all employment-data-generating ministries uploading their information onto a central portal, ensuring accessibility and eliminating data blind spots, the official explained.
The Labour Ministry believes that many labor market programs and their job creation contributions are overlooked due to the lack of a centralized database. Further meetings will be held to finalize the plan, the official stated.
The labour ministry believes that many projects aimed at the labour market and their contribution to job creation are being overlooked because there is no central database containing information on all such sectoral schemes. The idea will be finalised through more rounds of meetings, according to the official.
