During the financial year 2018-19, around 1.37 crore jobs were created in the formal sector, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.

Addition to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) subscriber base was used to arrive at the figure. The data showed that in the month of March 2019, around 8.27 lakh EPF subscribers were added. During the whole of the fiscal year, the highest subscription to the pension fund was seen in July 2018 at around 14.21 lakh.

Over the last few months, there has been an uproar on the high unemployment rate and lack of job creation in various sectors. While the government continues citing EPFO data to show employment generation, experts and statisticians say that it is not an ideal way to give a complete picture of the employment scenario.

Talking to news agency IANS, former Chief Statistician of India Pronab Sen, said, "We already know that the formal sector is growing. The problem is in the informal sector, which is going through massive unemployment."

One of major issues pointed out during the general elections 2019 was employment generation, also emphasised greatly by the opposition.

Along with the employment generation data, information was released on the number of PF subscribers ceasing to be its members. Around 1.14 crore members ceased their subscription to EPFO, which could mean either loss of job or superannuation.

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