The economic slowdown does not seem to have impacted employment in the country, if one goes by the Labour Bureau.

In fact, an upward trend in employment, led by the services sector, was noticed during January to March 2011, according to the Tenth Quarterly Survey Report on ‘Effect of Economic Slowdown on Employment in India' (January to March 2011), brought out by the Bureau.

Overall employment increased by 1.74 lakh during the quarter, despite the economic slowdown, except in sectors such as textiles including apparels, leather, gems and jewellery and handloom and powerloom, according to the Labour Ministry.

The IT/BPO sector generated the maximum employment with a rise of 2.87 lakh, followed by the increase of 0.16 lakh in metals, 0.13 lakh in the automobile industry and 0.06 lakh in the transport industry.

The maximum rise in overall employment, by 1.80 lakh, was seen in the direct category of workers compared with (-) 0.06 lakh in the contract category.

“In export-oriented units, employment increased by 1.99 lakh whereas in non-exporting units, it decreased by (-) 0.25 lakh during the period January 2011 over December 2010,” an official release said here on Wednesday.

Compared with the last four quarterly surveys (March 2011 over March 2010), overall employment rose by 9.79 lakh. The highest increase was in IT/BPO (6.65 lakh), followed by 1.11 lakh in automobiles, 1.01 lakh in textiles including apparels, 0.88 lakh in metals and 0.33 lakh in leather during the period.

The survey covered 2,406 sample establishments spread across 11 States and Union Territories.

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