The Ministry of Labour and Employment has released the draft National Labour & Employment Policy – Shram Shakti Niti 2025 for public consultation.
The draft policy aims for a renewed vision for a fair, inclusive, and future-ready world of work aligned with the national aspiration of “Viksit Bharat 2047.” The policy places strong emphasis on universal social security, occupational safety and health, women and youth empowerment, and the creation of green and technology-enabled jobs.
The draft of the National Employment Policy is now available on the websites of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, the Directorate General of Employment (DGE), and the National Career Service (NCS). Stakeholders, institutions, and members of the public are invited to submit their feedback, comments, and suggestions by 27th October 2025.
Some of the key features of the draft policy include:
- Universal and Portable Social Security: Creation of a Universal Social Security Account. integrating EPFO, ESIC, PM-JAY, e-SHRAM, and State welfare boards.
- Occupational Safety and Health: Implementation of the OSH Code, 2020, with risk-based inspections and gender-sensitive standards.
- Skill and Employment Linkages: Convergence of Skill India, NAPS, and PMKVY into a single skill-employment continuum supported by NCS-DPI and Industry-run Education to Employment Career lounges.
- Women and Youth Empowerment: Increase women’s participation to 35% by 2030 and expand entrepreneurship and career guidance initiatives for youth.
- Ease of Compliance and Formalisation: Single-window digital compliance with self-certification and simplified MSME returns.
- Technology and Green Transitions: Promotion of green jobs, AI-enabled safety systems, and just-transition pathways for workers.
- Convergence and Good Governance: Unified national labour data architecture ensuring inter-ministerial coherence and transparent monitoring.
The draft policy will be implemented in three phases:
- Phase I (2025–27): Institutional setup, social-security integration, and NCS-DPI pilots for AI-based job matching, Education to Employment Career lounges pilots.
- Phase II (2027–30): Expansion and convergence – nationwide rollout of Universal Social Security Account, skill-credit systems, and district-level Employment Facilitation Cells.
- Phase III (Beyond 2030): Consolidation – paperless governance, predictive analytics, and continuous policy renewal.
Through this policy, the government aims to build a resilient and continuously skilled workforce capable of meeting the demands of emerging technologies, climate transitions, and global value chains.
