NEW DELHI, May 15: Stating that new job opportunities are on rise in rural areas, a Finance Ministry report has said that persons seeking work under flagship rural employment scheme MGNREGS declined “almost” to the pre-pandemic level in January-March period of 2022.
Demand for fewer jobs under the scheme indicates stress in rural areas has been easing.
“Job opportunities continue to grow in the rural areas as well. Demand for work under MGNREGS, an indicator of distress demand in the rural sector declined in 2021-22. Total persons demanding work under MGNREGS in 2021-22 stood at 40.1 crore, which is 10.3 per cent lower than 44.7 crore in 2020-21,” the monthly report said.
The report said that the trend indicates an improvement in the livelihood situation in the rural sector for those depending on work under MGNREGS.
As per the official data, 2.9 crore persons demanded work under MGNREGS in March 2022 which is 19 per cent lower than in the corresponding figure in March 2021.
“In January-March 2022, persons seeking work under MGNREGS have now almost declined to the pre-pandemic levels,” it said. As regards urban areas, the report said that the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report for the October-December quarter of 2021 has showed improvement in job scenario.
It noted that hiring sentiment in the economy has stayed elevated.
“As per Monster Employment Index (MEI), hiring activity saw a 6 per cent YoY growth in March 2022. Hiring in March was driven by banking, financial services and insurance which rose by 37 pc, followed by telecom/ISP (17 pc) and production and manufacturing (16 pc). In addition, jobs also rebounded for hospitality & travel personnel by 11 per cent, the sector that was most severely impacted by Covid-19 pandemic,” the report added. (UNI)
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