Contractual, casual workers suffered most in Q1, FY18: Survey

NEW DELHI: Contractual workers and casual labourers are among the worst hit during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal with manufacturing reporting 87,000 job loss, said Labour Ministry survey. However, the overall employment in the eight selected sectors as per the quarterly survey of Labour Bureau, a wing of the labour ministry, increased by 64,000 during the quarter. "In Manufacturing Sector, the composition of total estimated change in Employment of (-) 87,000 by gender shows a (-) 65,000 change in male workers and (-) 22,000 change in female workers," the Quarterly Employment Survey said.

Out of (-) 87,000 change in total estimated employment, no change was observed in self employed, whereas (-) 87,000 change was observed in the employees category in comparison to previous quarter. Out of a total estimated change of (-) 87,000 in employees, a change of (+) 39,000 was observed in case of regular workers, (-) 54,000 in case of contractual workers and (-) 72,000 in the casual workers category, it added. The survey said there was an overall positive change of 64,000 workers over the previous quarter across 8 sectors at all India level. There were positive changes in 6 out of 8 sectors viz. Education Sector (99,000), Health Sector (31,000), Construction Sector (10,000), Trade Sector (7,000), Accommodation & Restaurant Sector (5,000), IT/BPO Sector (2,000) and negative change in 2 sectors viz. Manufacturing Sector (- 87,000) and Transport Sector (-30,000). Out of the total estimated change in Employment of 64,000, female workers accounted for a change of (+) 51,000 and Male workers accounted for a change of (+) 13,000. The self-employed experienced a positive change of 3,000 and employees experienced a positive change of 61,000. The number of regular workers marked a significant positive change by 1.48 lakh, while the number of contract and casual workers dropped by 64,000 and 23,000 respectively. The survey covered 11,179 units in the 8 sectors throughout the country.