Job creation in eight key manufacturing and services sector declined by 5 percent year-on-year. Compared to last year, it had grown by over 9 percent, a worrying sign for the already troubled union government ahead of the monsoon session.

This surely means that measures will have to be undertaken to boost the already dyeing economy. Points out E Ramesh, a economist, “We were expecting this as other economic data like industrial output and exports were in the negative. But we are optimistic that by the third quarter this would surely improve.”

A recent report also points out that contract labour  showed a negative growth of 0.59 lakh after declining by 0.27 lakh in the first half of the fiscal.  Also, 1 lakh regular workers were unemployed in the eight sectors. Even though hiring is taking place, there are many who are off loading jobs.

Last week 100,000 jobseekers travelled to a small northern Indian town for a recruitment drive, the sad part of the story is that only 1,000 got job offers in their hand.