As many as 1.52 lakh casual and 46,000 part-time jobs were lost during October 2016 to January 2017. This is in spite of eight key sectors of the economy adding 1.22 lakh workers during the quarter, against 32,000 in the previous quarter, according to the Labour Bureau.

The Quarterly Employment Survey (fourth series), which includes the demonetisation period, saw the maximum decrease of casual jobs in manufacturing (1.13 lakh) and IT/BPO (20,000). The loss of part-time work was also highest in manufacturing.

Overall, there were positive changes in manufacturing (83,000), trade (7,000), transport (1,000), IT/BPO sector (12,000), education (18,000) and health (2,000), according to the survey, for which field work for data collection was done during January-March 2017.

“However, the construction sector experienced a negative change (1,000) in estimated employment over last quarter,” said the report, adding that there was no change in the accommodation and restaurant sector.

Out of the overall increase in the number of employees in the quarter, regular workers accounted for 1.39 lakh, and contract workers, 1.24 lakh.

In a positive development, 97.66 per cent of the surveyed establishments said they maintained a record of employment, with IT/BPO and health sectors reporting 100 per cent records.

Job generation continues to be a key challenge for the Narendra Modi government that won with a poll promise to generate 2.5 crore jobs a year. At present, an estimated 1.2 crore persons join the labour force every year in India.