Quarterly Reports on Effect of Economic Slowdown on Employment in India (2008 - 2015)

The Labour Bureau (under the Ministry of Labour and Employment) conducted a series of quarterly quick employment surveys since January, 2009 to study the impact of global economic slowdown on employment in selected sectors of the Indian economy. These surveys were conducted in selected sectors of the economy, which were sensitive to the global factors and employment-intensive.

Although the scope of these surveys as well as sample size was limited, these surveys were useful in indicating a broad direction of changes in employment-–both direct and contract--in different sectors. The surveys provided broad indications about employment and jobs in a very short duration thereby facilitating timely action by the policy makers.

The first quarterly survey was conducted in the month of January, 2009 to study the impact of economic slowdown on employment during the quarter October-December, 2008. The survey was conducted in seven important sectors of the economy viz. Textiles, Metals, Automobiles, Gems & Jewellery, Transport, IT/ BPO and Mining. The findings of the survey were released by the end of January, 2009. A sample of 2,581 units was selected covering 20 centers spread across eleven states/ UTs. As per the findings of the survey, about half a million workers lost their jobs during the quarter ended December, 2008 in the selected sectors.

Construction, which is an employment-intensive sector, was also covered in the first quarterly survey but due to non-cooperation of the sample units and unavailability of reliable data, results could not be compiled. For the same reasons, the construction sector has not been covered in the subsequent quarterly surveys.

The second survey was conducted in the month of April, 2009 to study the impact of economic slowdown on employment during the quarter Jan-March, 2009. In this survey, two sectors, namely, Leather and Handloom/ Powerloom were added whereas the Mining sector covered during the first survey was excluded. The detailed report of the survey was released in May, 2009. A sample of 3,192 units from 21 centers spread across eleven states/ UTs was covered during the survey.

The third quarterly survey was conducted in the month of July, 2009 to study the employment situation during the quarter April-June, 2009 by revisiting the same sample units covered in the second survey. Since then the survey has been conducted in every quarter to identify the changes in employment of selected sectors.

The 26th Quarterly Employment Survey was conducted during the month of July, 2015. In that survey, the information on employment changes was collected for the reference period April, 2015 to June, 2015. The survey results indicate that employment in selected sectors had decreased at overall level by 43,000. The employment loss of half a million during Oct-Dec, 2008 was recovered in the quarter of June-September, 2009 and additional employment has been generated since then.

The field work for the 27th Quarterly Employment Survey was carried out in the month of January-February, 2016. A sample of 1,932 units in the eight selected sectors was covered for the reference period of July, 2015 to September, 2015.