Bibek Debroy said states are largely responsible for creating "business environment", jobs
The government will conduct a new national sample survey on employment, which will show that there has been "substantial job creation", Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council chief Bibek Debroy has said.
Amid a raging controversy over employment data, Mr Debroy also said states are largely responsible for creating "business environment" and jobs.
On Thursday, a media report based on the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO) periodic labour force survey, said unemployment rate had hit a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18. However, the same day, the government said it had not finalised the survey on labour force.
"We will have a new round of the NSS which will soon be announced and I am sure that that particular survey will show that there has been substantial employment and substantial job creation," Mr Debroy, who is the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) chairman, said.
In a video message posted on the Facebook page of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Mr Debroy also said a large part of what happens to "jobs, employment, the business environment is in the province of the states".
The EAC-PM chairman also pointed out that India does not have any robust statistical data on job creation after the year 2011-12.
Stating that India's labour force is still informal and unorganised, he said: "The enterprise surveys provide a very imperfect understanding of what is happening to employment in India."
Mr Debroy said the real issue is not the number of jobs created but the quality of jobs and wage rates.
Noting that the government per se can only provide a limited number of jobs, Mr Debroy also said the bulk of jobs would have to be created outside the government.
"And this is precisely what the Modi government has been doing by pushing self-employment, by pushing entrepreneurship. This is what the prime minister means when he talks about StandUp India, StartUp India," the EAC-PM chief said.
On January 28, acting chairman and another member of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) resigned, saying the government had not released the job numbers despite the commission's approval.
The NSSO job report was previously planned to be released in December 2018.