The number of people employed by the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) came down to 15.7 lakh at the end of 2007-08 from 16.14 crore in the previous fiscal, the survey stated.

The trimming of workforce took place in a year which witnessed overall increase in profits of the CPSEs to Rs 91,140 crore from Rs 89,578 crore a year ago and has no links with the global financial crisis that hit the world in September 2008. The crisis, according to a labour ministry survey, resulted in loss of job of 5 lakh workers during four-month period ending December 2008.

The survey also stated that out of a total of 15.7 lakh people employed by 242 CPSEs, only 1.32 lakh were women.

The employee strength of the CPSEs has been constantly coming down since 2001-02 during which they had a staff of about 20 lakh. The number fell gradually to 16.14 during 2006-07 and further to 15.7 lakh in 2007-08.

The survey said the wage bill of CPSEs went up by 15.9% during 2007-08 to Rs 64,306 crore. CPSEs in the coal and lignite sector had the maximum number of employees on their roll (4.45 lakh) followed by telecommunication services (3.55 lakh) and steel (1.48 lakh). While overall staff strength in the CPSEs was reduced in 2007-08, firms in some sectors including petroleum, heavy engineering and transportation equipment added workforce.