Modi Forms Task Force To Fill Gaps In India’s Employment Data
The task force will be headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr. Arvind Panagriya.
The government on Tuesday established a dedicated task force to fill the employment data gap and ensure the timely availability of reliable information regarding job creation.
The task force will be headed by government think tank NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagriya, a media statement by the Press Information Bureau said. The other members will include Labour Secretary M Sathiyavathy, Secretary of Statistics TCA Ananth, Pulak Ghosh of NITI Aayog and Manish Sabharwal, chairman of human resource services TeamLease.
The availability of reliable and timely employment data from the government has so far been lacking. While agencies like the Labour Bureau collect and publish data, the coverage is small and fragmented. This has made it difficult for policymakers to assess the extent of job creation, the media statement added.
The net result has been that both policymaking and analysis are conducted in a data vacuum.Press Information Bureau Statement
The latest employment data available on the Ministry of Statistics website is only up till 2012. The Open Government Data Portal has sector-wise employment data till 2014. In contrast, the U.S. government puts up jobs data on a weekly basis.
The task force will recommend solutions to be implemented in a time-bound manner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for accelerating this task force to ensure that policies on employment can be formulated based on credible data, the statement added.