Promised 10 L jobs a year, delivered 12.5 lakh: CM Stalin

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday said Tamil Nadu has created 12.5 lakh employment annually, exceeding the goal of 10 lakh job generation a year, which was also the DMK’s 2021 poll promise.

Taking to X, he described employment generation as the "finest indicator of industrial growth" and asserted that the State's momentum would continue at an even faster pace.

Industries Minister TRB Raaja, in a detailed post, said Tamil Nadu added more than 52 lakh net payroll members between 2021-22 and 2024-25, averaging over 12.5 lakh jobs annually. "That is 20% more than the 10 lakh per year promised during the 2021 campaign," he wrote, pointing to Union Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data as evidence.

He noted that the State's performance marked a steep rise from the previous regime, when EPFO registrations stood at about five lakh in 2018-19 and Tamil Nadu lagged behind Karnataka and Gujarat. "From that base to a peak of over 14 lakh in 2022-23, we have consistently opened up more than 12.5 lakh jobs a year in the last four years," he said.

Raaja, on Friday, stressed that the State had been ranked second only to Maharashtra for three consecutive years, showing the trend was a "structural shift, not a spike". He said the figures proved that proactive policies and investment agreements were being "converted into jobs for Tamil Nadu", sending a strong signal to industries planning long-term investments.

Reiterating that "the people of Tamil Nadu know this is the fact", he accused the Opposition of being unable to "wrap its head around the data", which he described as coming from their "own friends and allies".