Congress Challenges Government's Employment Claims, Alleges 'Jobloss Growth'

The Congress on Monday accused the government of misleading the public with claims of creating eight crore employment opportunities between 2021 and 2024. They argued that these claims are based on half-truths and statistical jugglery, failing to account for the quality and circumstances of employment. Furthermore, they said the overall employment scenario sees a shift to low-productivity, informal jobs.

The Congress on Monday dismissed the government's claims of creating eight crore employment opportunities between 2021 and 2024 and 6.2 crore net subscribers joining the EPFO database as 'half-truths'. They argued that the period from 2014 to 2024 has seen what they term 'jobloss growth'.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh criticized the government for allegedly adopting an expansive definition of employment that includes unpaid household work. He pointed out that crucial sectors like education saw job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. While sectors like education lost 12 lakh jobs, agriculture misleadingly showed a gain of 1.8 crore jobs.

Ramesh also criticized the government's use of EPFO data to assert record employment growth, noting that the EPFO only tracks the organized sector, which is less than 10 per cent of total employment. He highlighted that much of the increase in EPFO subscribers is due to ease of registration and not actual job creation.

(With inputs from agencies.)