Employment In Indian Cos...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Is your job being affected by the global meltdown? Tell us your story at yourstory@bworldmail.com Employment in certain Indian manufacturing and service sectors, which laid off about half a million employees last year, has gone up by 0.6 percent, a labour ministry report said, indicating a revival of the economy. During January-March 2009 employment in gems and jewellery sector rose 3.08 percent, followed by 0.96 percent in textile, 0.82 percent in IT/BPO, 0.28 percent in handloom/powerloom and 0.10 percent in automobile sector, the report, released late on Monday, said. &quot;Employment in selected sectors during the quarter January to March 2009 is estimated to have increased by about a quarter million to 15.72 million,&quot; the report said citing figures from a sample study of 3,192 firms conducted at 21 major industrial centres in the country. There was, however, a decline in employment in sectors like leather (2.76 percent), metals (0.56 percent) and transport (0.36 percent) during the period, the report said. Referring to its earlier study, the report said total employment in the selected sectors during March period was still lower than employment in September 2008, when it touched 16.2 million. Hiring of employees in non-exporting firms rose by 0.92 percent as against 0.28 percent in exporting firms, which reflected the slowdown in the export sector. India is set to announce fresh measures to boost job creation and the economy, and is expected to push ahead with reforms after the Congress-led coalition's election victory on Saturday. (Reuters)