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00:00I'm joined by Suchita Datta, Executive Director of the Indian Staffing Federation.
00:05Hi Suchita, thank you so much for taking time out for us.
00:09Hi, that's a pleasure to join you today and it is extremely a nice platform that you are
00:18discussing the data that has come out from not only based out of the PLFS, which is also synonymous
00:25to what Indian Staffing Federation also has been giving as data, that we are as a employment,
00:31new employment growth is happening anywhere between 14 to 16 percent year on year.
00:36In the last decade itself, there has been at least a 9 million workforce that have joined
00:42from the staffing industry, which is at least the new employment we are talking and synonymous to
00:48what the EPA for data on the expert services also mentioned. At the same time, when we look at across
00:55the sectors, most of the sectors today that are generating employment are at the ground level,
01:01which means that the people who are at the salary levels of up to a 15 to 24,000 are the maximum
01:08amount of people, which is the pressure, which is joining the job force is today getting employment.
01:14At the same time, Indian Staffing Federation has also noted that close to about 30 percent
01:19of the jobs go unfilled due to the talent mobility or possibly the mismatch of the location to the
01:27job location to the workplace location, which is also an astounding figure that we have noted that
01:33employment is not the problem in India. It is more of a formalization that we see as a problem and
01:39that is what we are working towards. The numbers across the cities, across the sectors
01:47also very promisingly bring about the data that close to about 30 percent growth in certain
01:54sectors, which is the sunrise sectors and even in the sectors which is of the heritage origin or
02:00which are age old, they are continuously showing an employment growth anywhere between 10 to 12 percent.
02:06So, at this point of time, please go on. At this point of time, we do not foresee a situation where
02:13employment generation is a problem and it is going at least 2x to 2.5x of the GDP growth that
02:22we are witnessing from the staffing industry itself, which is the manpower outsourcing of
02:26contract staffing industry, if you were to call it. That takes care of the social security, minimum wages
02:32and at least the employment security that goes on with continual employment.
02:37Right. Can you tell us a little bit more about, so you have given us a whole host of figures
02:43around the employment being generated and just by members of the Indian Staffing Federation.
02:50What is the nature of these jobs? Do these jobs also include gig employees? Can you help us
02:57understand that a little bit better? And secondly, you have also spoken about how more than
03:03employment generation, the challenge that's facing the Indian economy might be that of a demand and
03:09supply mismatch and the lack of skilling or rather the right skill sets. So, can you talk us a little
03:18bit more through that, please? So, the first point to address, gig economy today is not putting
03:26the workers as employment. They are more of the nature of engagement, which means that their
03:31minimum wages, social security is not catered to. Indian Staffing Federation and the members of the
03:37staffing industry provide employment in the formal sector, which in turn means that minimum wages at
03:44least are taken care of and they are always above minimum wages, if I look at most of the data.
03:50Certain states are between 7 to 11,000 per month, while certain states are as high as 18 to 24,000.
03:57Indian Staffing Federation members average at anywhere between 20 to 22,000 per month of salaries
04:03that they cater to, which means that they are bringing the first-time employment for the people
04:09who are in the under-accessed society or possibly who are in the migration or at least who are
04:16looking for the skill jump from one level to another level at the basic ground straight out
04:24of the country. Now, coming to the other factor where we are talking about the actual problems,
04:31the employment and formalization is a larger problem, as I mentioned. So, what can be done to
04:39combat that? One is employment services, which is currently at 18% GST rate, should be brought
04:46down to 5% GST, which will help most of the SME sector, construction sector, goods and services
04:52sector, maybe agriculture sector to also adopt the formal employment practices that will engage
04:59a larger section of our society today, which is in the informal workforce to come into the formal
05:04workforce. They would in turn become indirect taxpayers and increase the consumerism in the
05:11country and that will be much more helpful for the growth of the economy in a large scale.
05:16The second factor is today the skilling and employment are running parallel to each other
05:21rather than being linked to each other. Another factor that we have to notice is that how can
05:26skilling be linked to employment and that can be even driven through one of the parties, which is
05:32the staffing industry. We are the first-hand generators of understanding the generation of
05:38the jobs. We are the ones who are facilitating the mobilization. We are the ones who are doing
05:43the first level basic skilling to a certain extent and then putting them to the respective industries
05:49for them to be taking up the on-job training or maybe getting hired full-time as well. There is
05:54close to about 19% on-take of the contractual employees as permanent employees within the first
06:01one year of employment as well, which we see as a very, very positive sign as a factor of employment
06:08growth and formalization for that matter. The third angle that we are looking at is again the
06:15factor where the domestic workers and their underprivileged section, which is not today
06:22coming under the formal employment, which could be in the range of anywhere between three crores to
06:27four crores, can be brought into the formal employment segment as well. So these are the
06:32larger numbers, almost 40 crores of our population in the employment segment is under the informal,
06:39which needs to be brought into the formal and I believe that should be the first priority that
06:43we should be looking at. Okay, got it. I do want to understand, Sujata, so you've touched
06:48upon the PLFS and how that does appear to increasingly show the decline in unemployment
06:56as well as the rise in labor force participation. I do want your perspective on parameters like,
07:04for instance, the rise we've seen in self-employment, also the rise we've seen in
07:09agricultural employment. So whether these indicate the lack of alternate opportunities
07:16for the workforce, which is increasingly then being forced to pursue self-employment
07:22opportunities or go back to agriculture. How do you look at that? So there are two ways of
07:29India. One is India that we talk about the formal structure and there is Bharat, which is possibly
07:35not having a lot of access. Now, when we talk about India, we talk about having opportunities,
07:40having options. So self-employment to a certain extent is also a matter of options that they are
07:46choosing to do. They want to have startups. We are seeing a lot of investments and funding coming
07:51into it when the young generation is today trying out new ventures and want to enter the market
07:57as employers. There is another segment, which is Bharat, which does not have the opportunity
08:02and they possibly have to meet the requirements through self-employment. And there could be
08:08Grameen Udyogs or there could be at panchayat levels that they are also trying to create that
08:14kind of environment where not only themselves and mostly we see the women workforce, which are
08:21increasing in participation, not because of so much of opportunities available, but mostly out
08:28of the force of nature that they start with a smaller unit. They try it out and they are mostly
08:35into self-employment where the families are mostly looking at them to have some kind of experience,
08:42not so much from a perspective of generating income, but eventually they are also contributing
08:47in a large way in generating income. Agriculture, on the other hand, we are not noticing a higher
08:54section of the society being converted and continuing in the agriculture sector. There
08:59is a farm to non-farm transition that is happening, which is gradual. But at the same time, agri-tech
09:06as an industry is trying to invest. And then there are a lot of participation from an agri-tech
09:11perspective that is definitely coming under the sunrise industries where the jobs are going to
09:16be generated. And there will be a lot of investments that are going to be helping
09:19formal job creation there.