As per 1st round of All-India Quarterly Establishment Based Employment Survey (AQEES), employment increased by 29% in nine selected sectors of economy compared to 6th Economic Census (2013-14)

What is the News?

The Government has released the results of the first round of the Quarterly Employment Survey for the period April to June 2021.

Note: QES is part of the All-India Quarterly Establishment Based Employment Survey (AQEES).

What is the All-India Quarterly Establishment Based Employment Survey (AQEES)?

Released by: Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment 

Purpose: To provide frequent (quarterly) updates about the employment and related variables of establishments, in both organised and unorganised segments, of nine selected sectors. These sectors altogether account for a majority of the total employment in the non-farm establishments. 

Nine Selected Sectors: Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation and Restaurant, IT/ BPO and Financial Services.

Components: ​​There are two components under AQEES, 

Quarterly Employment Survey(QES): It compiles relevant data from about 12,000 establishments selected through a sampling design to represent each of the nine sectors within each state/ Union Territory, as also each size-class (range of the number of workers) within each sector-State/ UT. 

Area Frame Establishment Survey (AFES): It covers the unorganised segment (with less than 10 workers) through a sample survey. 

What are the key highlights of QES 2021?

It shows a 29% increase in employment in nine sectors during the peak Covid-19 months of April-June 2021 over a base of 2013-14 (Sixth Economic Census – EC).

The most impressive growth of 152% has been recorded in the IT/BPO sector.

Nearly 90% of the establishments have been estimated to work with less than 100 workers.

There has been a decline in the share of female workers. From 31% in the 6th EC (2013) to 29% in QES (2021) data.

Out of the 9 sectors, 7 sectors saw growth in employment while only 2 sectors (Trade, and Accomodation & Restaurants) saw a decline in employment figures.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘As per 1st round of All-India Quarterly Establishment Based Employment Survey (AQEES), employment increased by 29% in nine selected sectors of economy compared to 6th Economic Census (2013-14)’ published in PIB on 20th Dec 2021.