No 'spin-doctoring' can change fact that 2014-24 saw 'jobloss growth': Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday dismissed as "half-truths" the government's assertions of creating eight crore employment opportunities between 2021 and 2024 and 6.2 crore net subscribers joining the EPFO database, and said no "spin-doctoring" can take away from the fact that 2014-24 has seen "jobloss growth".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that amidst the "U-turns and scandals" that have marked the last few months of this "tottering" government, "the non-biological PM and his drum beaters have tried to find some solace in their economic record, claiming to have created eight crore employment opportunities between 2021 and 2024".

Our statement on this tottering Government's desperate attempts to doctor data with completely bogus claims on employment creation pic.twitter.com/paXG9D8NWm

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 30, 2024

"This claim initially emerged from the RBI KLEMS data, which we had earlier countered on July 15th, 2024. The Government's spin doctors have now mustered another statistic - that of 6.2 crore net subscribers joining the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) database between September 2017 and March 2024. Both claims are based on half-truths," he said in a statement.

To justify its claim of eight crore new jobs, the government adopts an expansive definition of employment, without registering the quality and circumstances of employment, Ramesh argued.

A large part of the claimed "employment growth" is recording unpaid household work done by women as "employment", he said, adding that it is not new job creation. The '80 million new jobs' headline also elides discussion on the quality of jobs, Ramesh said.

Amidst the poor economic climate, the share of salaried, formal employment in the labour market has decreased, he said and pointed out that workers are moving to low-productivity informal and agricultural jobs, which KLEMS is capturing as jobs created.

"This is why the KLEMS data shows an increase in employment during the COVID-19 pandemic years, when large sections of the economy fully shut down. While crucial sectors like education saw 12 lakh fewer jobs in 2020-2021, a whopping 1.8 crore 'jobs' were 'created' in agriculture," he said.

Thus, factory workers, teachers, miners, etc. who returned home during COVID-19 and had to return to farming and agricultural labour are registered as a "job created" in agriculture, Ramesh argued.

This shift to low-productivity, poorly paid jobs is an economic travesty, which the government is touting as an achievement, the Congress leader said.

"Finally, in the absence of a Population Census since 2011, the KLEMS statisticians assumed a population level to arrive at their projections. Several economists have indicated that the population estimate used was too large, resulting in an overestimation of jobs created," Ramesh said.

He further said the government cites the addition of 6.2 crore net subscribers in the EPFO database to show record employment growth, without revealing the full picture.

EPFO only tracks the organised sector which is less than 10 per cent of total employment, he said.

"The Supreme Court verdict in 2020 required the EPFO to include contractual workers at any establishment which employs more than 20 people. A substantial number of workers who were already employed are now being reflected in EPFO data - these are not new jobs created," Ramesh said.

"Part of the net increase in EPFO has to do with ease of registration - the process is now online, free of cost, and hassle-free, without requiring a visit to the EPFO office. Subscribers can now transfer their PF accounts while changing employers, without having to submit a claim for final settlement," he said.

Establishments with 20 or more employees come under the purview of the EPF act, Ramesh said and pointed out that firms which move from 19 to 20 employees in one year will suddenly appear in the EPFO data as 20 new "jobs" even though net job creation is a single job.

"Many retirees do not withdraw their assets from the EPFO because it offers attractive returns - they are captured as being employed in EPFO data," Ramesh said.

"Whatever statistical jugglery they engage in, the truth remains: India's unemployment rate today is the highest it has been in 45 years, with the unemployment rate for graduate youth at 42%. This crisis is of the Government's own making, caused by the decimation of job creating MSMEs through the Tughlakian demonetisation, a hastily rushed through GST, an unplanned COVID-19 lockdown, and rising imports from China," Ramesh said.

The final straw has been the PM's economic policy of favouring a few large business groups, which is destroying competition and impacting inflation as well, he said.

"No spin-doctoring can take away from this fact: 2014-24 has seen JOBLOSS growth," Ramesh said.