Retail, manufacturing largest employers in Bihar

Patna: The retail and manufacturing sectors have emerged as the largest job providers in Bihar, together employing more than 14 lakh people.

According to a recent report containing a summary of the Fifth Economic Census, 2005, around 9.77 lakh people are employed in the retail sector, while more than 4.58 lakh people work in the manufacturing sector in Bihar.

The two sectors account for 65 percent of total employment generated by all sectors in the state.

The report said the number of establishments in the state registered a growth of 17.31 per cent to 12.25 lakh as per the 2005 census in comparison to the previous economic census conducted in 1998.

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Out of this, 8.35 lakh establishments (68.23 per cent) fell in rural areas and about 3.89 lakh (31.77 percent) were in urban areas.

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Out of the total establishments, 8.20 lakh (67.02 per cent) belonged to the OAE (own account establishments) category and 4.03 lakh establishments (32.98 percent) were EHW (establishments with at least one hired worker), the report said.

The census revealed there were about 35,000 agricultural establishments (2.85 percent) and 11.89 lakh non-agricultural establshments (97.15 percent) in the state.

While comparing these figures with the previous Fourth Economic census, the number of non-agriculture establishments increased by 18 percent, but the number of agricultural establishments reduced by 2.01 percent in the Economic Census, 2005.

The census pointed out that there are more than 6.5 lakh establishments in the retail sector, which amounts to 55 percent of the total number of establishments in Bihar, while 2.27 lakh establishments were in the manufacturing sector.

State Planning and Development Principal Secretary Vijay Prakash said retail and manufacturing units falling in the unorganised sector have emerged as the largest employers in the state. While there are 6,56,162 establishments in the retail sector of the state, manufacturing sector establishments number 2,27,853 and together, they constitute 74.30 percent of the total units in the unorganised sector, the report revealed.

PTI