Manufacturing sector is India's largest employer: Census
Saturday, 31 May 2008, 01:57 IST
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New Delhi: An estimated 100.9 million people were employed in 41.8 million establishments in India, growing at 2.78 percent and 4.69 percent, respectively between 1998-2005, shows the official Economic Census for 2005. Non-farm sector continued to be the principal source of employment, employing 90 million people, compared to 10.9 million in agriculture sector, said the census released here Thursday. "Retail and manufacturing establishments continue to be the key employment providers in India,? said S.K. Nath, director general of the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), which compiled the census. ?It is a significant pointer that India has a great deal of potential for growth in these two sectors," he said. Manufacturing sector employed 25.5 million people or 25.25 percent of the total workforce, followed by 25.1 million or 24.91 percent, respectively for retail trade sector, showed the survey. This was the fifth in the series of the economic censuses conducted by CSO, an agency under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. The first census of its kind was launched in 1977. "This census gives us a complete picture of India's economic situation. We must interpret the data intelligently. There has been a rapid growth in small-scale industries," said Statistics and Programme Implementation Secretary Pranob Sen. Following are some of the key census findings: - 100.90 million people employed in 41.83 establishments in India. - 41.83 million establishments, 25.54 million in rural and 16.29 million in urban areas, operated in 2005. - 39.61 million establishments under private ownership. - 26.96 million units were own establishments, without hired workers. - 35.75 million non-agricultural establishments engaged 89.99 million workers, while agriculture sector's 6.08 million units had 10.91 million workers. - Employment growth rate at 2.78 percent between 1998 and 2005. - Males accounted for 78.3 million of the workforce; women accounted for 20.2 million, children 2.4 million. - Manufacturing sector was the largest employer (25.5 million people); the retail sector came next (25.1 million people); farming was third (9.2 million people). - 95 percent establishments had 1-5 workers; 3.42 percent had 6-9 workers; only 1.51 percent employed 10 or more workers.
Source: IANS
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