Current Labour Scenario

Prez stresses on self employment of youth : They should be job giver not job seekers

 Inaugurating the ‘Economic Democracy Conclave’ organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, Keshav Srushti at Uttan Village in neighbouring Thane district, the President Ram Nath Kovind called upon the Government and non-government agencies to impart skill training to empower and encourage enterprising youth.

Kovind expressed confidence that youth shall make best of opportunities created through government programmes and non-government facilities through NGOs, NBFCs, Media and they turn up to self-employment as a matter of choice, becoming ‘job-giver’ than job-seeker’.

Sharing his memories about his association with the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, the President heaped praise on its values of discipline, dutifulness, commitment and work culture. He also highlighted that the Mumbai, the financial capital and surrounding region host number of opportunities for all ranging from self-employed vendor to corporate industrialists.
The President exhorted the youth that they should play role in development of society and economy by utilising these opportunities.

Tax-free Rs. 20 lakh gratuity

Payment of Gratuity Amendment Bill 2017 is likely to be passed in the forthcoming Budget session, which will make formal sector workers eligible for tax free Rs 20 lakh gratuity. At present formal sector workers with five or more years of service are eligible for Rs 10 lakh tax free gratuity after leaving job or at time of superannuation. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the last Winter Session of Parliament. Once the Bill is passed by Parliament, the Government will not be required to go to it again for deciding the quantum of tax free gratuity.

2018 to see more hirings, salary rise of 10%

According to Mercer’s 2017 India Total Remuneration Survey, companies are likely to dole out 10 per cent salary increase across industries in 2018, consistent with 2016 and 2017. The survey of 791 organisations across industry sectors found that 55 per cent companies intend to hire in the next 12 months, as against 48 per cent last year.

70% cos to up women hires for FY19: Study

Having a gender diverse workforce could be the flavour of the next financial year. In a study by BTI Consultants, based on insights gathered through a market mapping of the Indian business landscape representing over top 100 corporates, nearly 70% of organisations said they would be hiring more women in 2018-19.

Government will offer pan-India licence for providing contract Workers

The Ministry of Labour & Employment is planning to launch a national licence for staffing firms supplying contract workers across industries, a move that seeks to make doing business easier for them. Since staffing firms typically operate from multiple locations, a national licence will help increase formalization of the workforce.

The licence will be based on a set criteria and renewed every three years. It can be obtained on payment of fees and a bank guarantee as security for due performance of their obligations. At present, staffing firms are required to make a small deposit as security to the government. They are required to seek approvals for hiring contract workers at every location or premises and for every new person hired.

Public sector engaging contract labour higher than private sector

The government and the corporate sector employ a large number of contract workers, who now account for 55% of public sector jobs and 45% of those in the private sector. Furthermore, their numbers are on the rise in the country because they can be paid less than permanent workers and retrenched more easily.

Signs of recovery in hire activity

Signs of recovery have been witnessed in the hiring activity in the last month of 2017. According to the Naukri JobSpeak Index for December’17 there has been a 10 per cent growth as compared to that in December 2016.
Key industries like production/maintenance, auto saw a growth of 42 and 31 per cent, respectively in Dec’17 when compared with Dec’16.  Commenting on the report, V. Suresh, Chief Sales Officer, Naukri.com said, “The job market continues to sustain the momentum gained in November. Non-IT sectors have led the growth for the past few months.“

SC reprimands govt over inaction on construction workers

The apex court questioned the Centre’s attitude on the issue and said it was clear that the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, cannot be implemented at all.
Maintaining that it was “a completely helpless situation”, it said “if the government is not serious, tell us. What you are doing is that you are collecting money but not giving it to those (construction workers) for whom the money has been collected.”
Over Rs 37,482 crore has been collected as cess under the 1996 Act. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had earlier in an affidavit told the court that funds meant for construction workers’ welfare were being spent to buy laptops and washing machines.

PM Modi urges youth to become job creators

Addressing the students of Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida on the occasion of the inauguration of the 22nd National Youth Festival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the youth to go for entrepreneurship, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the youth of today should become job creators and think out of the box for which the Government is willing to hand-hold them for setting up start-ups. Modi said while patience was a virtue, it should not stop the youth from coming up with innovative ideas for the benefit of the country and society.

Over 6 lakh jobs being created a month in formal sector in FY18

The study, authored by SBI group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh and Pulak Ghosh, a professor with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, calculated the number of jobs in enterprises from the membership of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, General Provident Fund and National Pension System (NPS). Busting the theory that jobs are not being created in the formal sector, a new study has found that 590,000 jobs were generated every month until November in the current financial year. This means that seven million jobs will be created in the formal sector in 2017-18 if one expands the trend on a pro rata basis.

Need to capture jobs on real-time basis

Niti Aayog’s CEO i.e. government thinktank, in an exclusive interview, stressed on the need to implement payroll reporting for a more accurate picture of jobs in the country. Amid concerns over job creation in India, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has stated in a interview with a leading business daily that there should be a solid framework to keep a track of job creation in the country, adding that it can only be achieved through payroll reporting. He went on to say that the government needs to look at the stock of payroll and look at incremental gains on jobs annually.

Govt notifies body to advise on contract workers’ problems

The Delhi Government has notified the Delhi Advisory Contract Labour Board, a body which will advise the government on problems of contract workers in the national Capital.

“In order to address various concerns of contract labour and to implement the provisions of Contract Labour Act, 1970, the government has notified the Delhi Advisory Contract Labour Board,” said Labour Minister Gopal Rai in a statement.

“Although, the Contract Labour Act, 1970 provides for regulation and abolition of the contractual labour system but there are many organisations where contractual workers have been employed in jobs of perennial nature,” the statement added.
The government said that large scale violations have been reported by contract workers to labour department from time to time. 

Courtesy LLR