Employment grows @ 2.78% in '98-05 period

Employment generation in the country has increased considerably in the eight-year period ending 2005 as compared to 1990-98, says Economic Census released by the government Thursday.

The employment grew at the rate of 2.78 per cent in 1998-2005, which is much higher than the 1.75 per cent recorded during 1990-98, the fifth Economic Census report said.

The report, compiled by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), said that Jammu and Kashmir emerged as the state with maximum employment growth of 6.82 per cent followed by Andhra Pradesh (5.87 per cent), Kerala (5.86 per cent) and Haryana (5.35 per cent).

The report further said, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh were the two main employment-providing states followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh provided maximum employment in the rural areas (13.14 per cent of the total rural employment), followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, UP, Kerala and Maharashtra.

Among the urban-employment providers, Maharashtra topped the list providing the maximum employment at 14.10 per cent of total urban employment.

Referring to the non-agricultural activities, the report observed that such activities in the rural areas were more compared to urban areas, evident by the fact that number of non-agricultural establishments in rural areas was 19.83 million as against 15.92 million in the urban areas.

In non-agricultural activities, the manufacturing sector scored the maximum with 25.48 million workers engaged in it.

This was followed by retail trade (25.14 million workers) and education (7.49 million workers).

Other major area of employment was farming of animals, which employed 9.2 million workers.

Also, the report observed, number of establishments grew significantly during the period. Rural areas showed a higher growth rate (5.37 per cent) compared to urban areas (3.69 per cent).

Pointing out that there was positive growth in all the states except Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands, the report said highest growth rate in establishments was marked in Mizoram, Tripura, Kerala and Tamil Nadu which grew above 8 per cent.

Interestingly, Delhi and Goa registered a negative growth rate in rural areas, while Bihar, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and A&N Islands saw a negative growth in urban areas, the report said.