Labour ministry working on a National Employment Policy

With the government focusing on job creation and employment for the country’s workforce, the labour and employment ministry is now working on a National Employment Policy with the objective of creating a labour ecosystem that ensures protection, productivity, and participation for every worker. 

The broad goals would be universal and portable social security, occupational safety and health, skill and employment linkages, ease of compliance and formalisation, technology and green transitions and women and youth empowerment.

To this effect, the labour ministry has issued a draft National Labour and Employment Policy of India called the Shram Shakti Niti 2025. “India’s labour market is experiencing structural shifts driven by digitalisation, green transitions, and new employment forms such as gig and platform work,” noted the draft policy.

The Shram Shakti Niti 2025 would respond to these changes through a unified framework integrating social protection, skilling, occupational safety, and technology-led governance. It also repositions the labour ministry as an Employment Facilitator, enabling convergence among workers, employers, and training institutions through trusted, AI-driven systems.

The National Career Service (NCS) platform will serve as India’s Digital Public Infrastructure for Employment, enabling transparent and inclusive job matching, credential verification, and skill alignment.

“The policy also places strong emphasis on universal social security, occupational safety and health, women and youth empowerment, and the creation of green and technology-enabled jobs,” said an official release.  By integrating key national databases such as EPFO, ESIC, e-Shram, and NCS into a unified Labour Stack, the policy envisions an inclusive and interoperable digital ecosystem that supports lifelong learning, social protection, and income security, it further said.

The ministry has now sought comments on the draft policy from stakeholders and experts by October 27.

The draft policy also aims to establish a three tier implementation structure including the National Labour and employment policy Implementation Council, which would be the apex inter-ministerial body chaired by the Minister of Labour and Employment at the Centre, State Labour Missions to ensure contextual implementation and coordination and District Labour Resource Centres.