New Delhi, Jan 3
Employment generation across the agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors saw a significant increase during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure in the last 10 years compared to the preceding decade under the Congress-led UPA government, according to figures compiled by the Reserve Bank of India.
The figures show that under PM Modi's tenure between 2014 and 2024, 17.9 crore additional jobs have been created, compared to 2.9 crore jobs during the UPA regime between 2004 and 2014.
Employment during the Modi government has jumped by 36 per cent compared with just 6 per cent during the UPA regime.
The data show that during 2023-24, 4.6 crore jobs were created and the total number of people employed in the country rose from 596.7 million in 2022-23 to 643.3 million in the financial year ended on March 31, 2024.
The RBI's KLEMS database covers five key inputs of production – Capital (K), Labour (L), Energy (E), Materials (M), and Services (S). The database is created for 27 industries aggregated to form six sectors which cover the entire economy.
The RBI's data on sector-wise growth also show a substantial improvement under the Modi government. For instance, the agriculture sector posted a growth of 19 per cent during the Modi government, compared with a decline of 16 per cent during the UPA.
The manufacturing sector grew 15 per cent during 2014-2024 as against just 6 per cent during the UPA's 2004-2014. Under the Modi government, the services sector also recorded an impressive 36 per cent growth, compared with 25 per cent under the UPA regime.
The RBI has also for the first time made a provisional estimate of productivity for the total economy in FY24 based on the available information.
This reflects the quality of labour in the economy based on the education level of the workers. The data shows an increase in employment across education levels and age groups. The unemployment ratio has gone down to 1.4 per cent in FY24 from 2.2 per cent in FY18.
The services sector, excluding construction, is now absorbing most of the workforce that is moving out of agriculture. This is in sharp contrast to the 2000-2011 period when the construction sector was providing the bulk of jobs to the workforce.
The data also shows that high-skilled activities, such as financial and business services, education, and health care, are seeing an increase in the share of educated workers.