Job generation: Industry dept profiles 77,000 migrant workers so far

Facing the challenge of generating employment for the migrant labourers returning home, the state industry department has profiled 77,000 workers till Thursday.

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The officials collected information about their skills, work experience and the kind of factories they have worked in previously. The data collection started a few weeks back as a part of the state government’s plan of skill mapping to provide suitable employment to the migrants who returned home amid lockdown following Covid outbreak.

“We have prepared a data base of 77,000 workers by categorising them sector and block wise and taking their personal details like phone number and home address etc,” said industry minister Shyam Rajak. He said the data base will also have details of where they worked previously, the number of years spent in the factory and area of specialization.

A large number of labourers who returned to the state were working in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab , Delhi and Harayana .

“The migrants profiled are experienced in multiple fields, including automobile, textile, plastic , laying floor tiles, brick soling and machinery. A good number of them are carpenters while others have worked in steel units. The number of workers profiled will increase in the next few days as the data collection is going on,” Rajak said.

Meanwhile, the industry minister and industry department officers Friday will interact with all the district magistrates (DMs) to discuss avenues of job creation at local level. An official said the industry department has started working with the business bodies to encourage them to employ the migrant workers based on their skills so that employment is generated.

Meanwhile, the state government has already increased the work hours in factories from 8 to 12 hours for next three months to enhance productivity, boost commercial activity following the contraction in the economy in the lockdown period. There are indications that the state government would further amend labour laws for giving more investors more incentives to set up industry in the state, as like other states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Previously, Bihar chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar had laid stressed on skill mapping in various districts as a way for providing employment to migrant workers who returned home in last few weeks.