The jobs data released recently by the Indian Labour Bureau has rekindled the debate on “jobless growth”, a phrase whose coinage a surprisingly large number of professional economists wish to take credit for.

The data, based on eight sectors (textiles, leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport, IT/BPO and handloom/powerloom), showed a startling 68 per cent drop in employment generation between 2014 and 2015. While one can quibble endlessly on whether this unexpected drop is a problem with the sample, it might be worth one’s while to stop fretting about the ...