-Newsclick.in The government must analyse its existing data collection exercises, rationalise them and improve the inefficient statistical administration. It is good news that the Labour Bureau will revive its establishments-based Quarterly Employment Surveys or QES, using a larger sample. Since the Periodic Labour Force Surveys or PLFS collects data from households, the proposed quarterly survey of jobs will collect data from establishments. But it is advisable to review the multiple existing employment...

-The Hindu Public works could provide valuable support to the urban poor, especially if women get most of the jobs The COVID-19 crisis has drawn attention to the insecurities that haunt the lives of the urban poor. Generally, they are less insecure than the rural poor, partly because fallback work is easier to find in urban areas — if only pulling a rickshaw or selling snacks. Still, the urban poor are exposed...

-The Hindu The labour codes will only better India’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking instead of improving conditions of employment In an interview with The Hindu in October this year, the Union Labour Minister claimed that the four labour codes would generate employment and secure the basic rights of the workers. He also claimed that the labour codes seek to universalise the right to minimum wage of workers and social security entitlements....

-The Hindu Their working hours were reduced, says agency in report Women and lower-paid workers have disproportionately borne the brunt of the decrease in wages due to the COVID-19 crisis as their working hours were reduced, according to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Global wage Report 2020-2021. The report, released on Wednesday, said global wage growth fluctuated between 1.6% and 2.2% in the four years preceding the pandemic, that is 2016 to 2019. “In...

-Livemint.com Such a recovery will be stress-tested in an economy with excess capacity. That is why wages matter The first estimates of economic growth in the September quarter indicate that India’s ongoing recovery has been better than expected. This is a good time to resurrect a question this column had raised in August: Will the economic recovery be led by profits or wages? The answer matters because it has implications for aggregate...