Andhra Pradesh tops in Job generation

For long Maharashtra and Gujarat have been hailed as the commercial and manufacturing hubs of the country. Figures on foreign direct investment also suggest that they are among the states attracting the biggest investments. Yet, they have been among the laggards when it comes to creating non-agricultural or manufacturing jobs.It is states like Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan in the north and the four southern states that have registered the highest growth both in the number of non-agricultural business establishments and in the numbers of those working in them. This emerges clearly from a comparison of the data from the economic censuses of 1998 and 2005.In terms of growth in the number of such establishments, states like Assam, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Kerala top the list among the bigger ones. However, in terms of growth in employment in such establishments, Andhra tops, followed by Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab in that order.There are smaller states like Jammu & Kashmir or some in the northeast which have even higher growth rates, but given their size the comparison is obviously meaningless.When it comes to the manufacturing sector, while Tamil Nadu now has the highest number of units, Kerala leads in growth, with the numbers more than doubling. Kerala is followed by Assam, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, all registering over 60% increase.When it comes to growth in manufacturing jobs, Rajasthan, Kerala and Haryana top the list. The other southern states too have recorded rather high growth in employment in the manufacturing sector.While Maharashtra registered a growth of over 56% in manufacturing establishments, the growth in employment in manufacturing is a meagre 1.1% in the state. And in Gujarat, where the number of manufacturing establishments increased by just over a quarter, employment in the sector has grown by just over 2.5%.Even states like Orissa and Madhya Pradesh have done better than Gujarat in terms of growth in the number of manufacturing establishments and in terms of employment in this sector.In the last census, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh did not exist.

The performance of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh in creating jobs in manufacturing units seem poor at first glance, since establishments in the newly carved out states of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are now counted separately. However, if we add their numbers, it is obvious that even undivided Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and UP have done better than Gujarat.West Bengal, which figures in the top five on most counts in absolute numbers, whether it is in number of establishments or persons employed in the sector, shows a much slower rate of growth in comparison with most states, which explains why the Left is so eager to push industrialization in the state.However, even Bengal's performance is far better than Maharashtra and Gujarat on most counts.In the case of Assam, while the number of manufacturing establishments has more than doubled, employment in the sector has actually fallen, one of the few states where this has happened.Delhi is another instance of a territory that has seen a decline in manufacturing units as well as jobs. This may seem strange, but is probably explained by the Supreme Court-mandated shift of a number of units from the Capital.