New Delhi, November 1: Employment in India declined significantly between 2011-12 and 2017-18, according to a study. There was a fall in employment in India by 9 million in six years, read an academic paper — written by Santosh Mehrotra and Jajati K Parida and published by the Centre of Sustainable Employment at the Azim Premji University, The Indian Express reported. In other words, 1.6 million jobs were lost every year. Unemployment Rate Among Educated Persons Jumps to 11.4%: Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar Tells Lok Sabha.

Mehrotra is Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University while Parida teaches at the Central University of Punjab. They said that is the first time such a decline has been recorded in the country. "The total employment during 2011-12 and 2017-18 declined by 9 million. This happened for the first time in India’s history," the two professors stated. According to their study, employment fell from 474 million in 2011-12 to 465 million in 2017-18. India's Unemployment Rate Increases to 6.1% in 2017-18, Highest in Last 45 Years.

Mehrotra and Parida's conclusions contradict the recent study by Laveesh Bhandari and Amaresh Dubey, which was commissioned by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Bhandari and Dubey had claimed that total employment grew from 433 million in 2011-12 to 457 million in 2017-18. Interestingly, both outcomes have arrived based on data from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s Employment-Unemployment Surveys for 2004-05 and 2011-12, and PLFS 2017-18.

Another JNU professor Himanshu, in his opinion piece published in Mint on August 1, said that the total employment fell from 472.5 million in 2011-12 to an even more astounding 457 million — a fall of over 15 million over the six years. In other words, close to 2.6 million jobs were lost every year between 2011-12 and 2017-18, according to him.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2019 09:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).