ECONOMIC SURVEY 2020-21: EMPLOYMENT

About:

• The country saw the nearly 29 Central Labour laws being amalgamated, rationalized and simplified into four labour codes viz.:
  • the Code on Wages, 2019,
    
    
  • the Industrial Relations Code, 2020,
    
    
  • the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and
    
    
  • the Code on Social Security, 2020.
    
    
  
  
  
• COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of urban casual workers, who account for 11.2 per cent of urban workforce (All-India) as per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), January-March, 2020.
  
  
• The size of labour force in 2018-19 was estimated at about 51.8 crore persons: about 48.8 crore employed and 3.0 crore unemployed.
  
  
• Industry-wise estimates on workforce shows that the largest, about 21.5 crore persons are employed in 'Agriculture', which is still the largest employer with 42.5 per cent of workforce.
  
  
• Next important industry is ‘other services’ where about 6.4 crore persons (13.8 per cent) were engaged.
  
  
• 'Manufacturing' and ‘Trade, hotel & restaurants’ each employed about 5.9 crore persons with the share of nearly 12.1 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively, while ‘Construction’ sector employed about 5.7 crore persons in 2018-19 with share of 12.1 per cent.