Parul
The country needs to develop a credible system for mapping job creation, at least in the formal sector, so that the government’s policies are anchored accordingly, ASSOCHAM said in a report.
“Like we release inflation data, industrial output numbers and several other high-frequency data every month, we must create a system sooner than later so that the payroll numbers are released month on month,” the industry body said in the report.
If a large part of the economy is getting formalised, the mapping of job creation should not be difficult, it said, adding that since the wages are all paid through banking channels, we can just capture the salary data from the banks to collate and compare it.
“The monthly data can make it clear that it is about the fresh jobs in the formal sector……with measures like the Goods and Services Tax… a larger part of the economy gets captured into formalisation, we would go on improving on the job database. At least we have to make a beginning somewhere,” it said.
The chamber said for any mature economy, the payroll data is crucial for anchoring policies with regard to interest rates, welfare measures, investment incentives and taxation. The national economic policies must be data-driven rather than anecdotal pieces of information, collected from here and there, it said.
Also read: We’ll build on big data of our customer base and expand globally: CEO, PolicyBazaar
