The Quarterly Survey Report on the Effect of Economic Slowdown on Employment in India (July-September, 2009) conducted in selected sectors i.e. textiles, metals, leather, automobiles, gem & jewellery, transport, IT/BPO, handloom/ powerloom has indicated that overall employment has increased by about 5 lakh during the quarter as compared to decline in employment by 1.31 lakh during the previous quarter of April-June 2009.

However, with a view to guaranteeing employment in rural areas, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 was enacted, which provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household. A significant feature of this Act is that if a worker who has applied for work under NREGA is not provided employment within 15 days from the date on which work is requested, an unemployment allowance shall be payable by the State Government at the rate prescribed in the Act. A State-wise statement of number of households provided employment under NREGA is annexed.

In addition to this, Government is implementing a number of employment generation schemes, such as Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), Swarn Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) and Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). The PMEGP has been launched in August, 2008 for implementation from 2008-09 to 2012-13 with an estimated expenditure of Rs. 4735 crore towards margin money and Rs. 250/- crore towards backward forward linkages with the target for generation of 37.37 lakh additional employment opportunities.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour & Employment Shri Harish Rawat  in the Rajya Sabha