IT/BPO sector created maximum jobs during last quarter: report

Ninety per cent of the new jobs created during the last quarter were direct recruitments by employers while the rest were done through contracts, a latest government survey said. Most of the increase in employment of direct category workers was accounted for by the IT/BPO sector, Labour Bureau said in its survey report for October-December quarter. During this period, employment rose by 6.38 lakh over the July-September quarter, an apparent reflection of the gradual turnaround of the economy, the report said. Out of 6.38 lakh, employment in the direct category rose by 5.79 lakh while employment of contract workers increased by only 0.59 lakh, it said. Direct workers include permanent, temporary and casual workers employed directly by the employer. Contract workers, on the other hand, are those hired by the employer to perform specific functions through a contractor for a defined period of time. The report, which was compiled out of a survey carried out in eight selected sectors of the economy, revealed that IT/BPO sector created 5.67 out of the 5.79 lakh jobs in direct worker category. The sectors covered in the survey included textiles, leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport and handloom apart from the IT/BPO. The survey was fifth in the series, the first one being conducted in the October-December quarter in 2008 immediately after the onset of the global meltdown to assess the impact of recession on the job market. The previous survey conducted between July and September, 2009 showed a 4.97 lakh increase in job creation. It said 91 per cent of the jobs created in the October-December quarter were in export units, which bore the brunt of the economic crisis, thus signalling an imminent turnaround. The report also revealed that at overall level the average monthly percentage increase in employment of exporting units in the eight selected sectors was 2.95 per cent as compared to the last survey.