Workers who have lost jobs in retrenchment process and are registered with Employees' State Insurance Scheme are eligible for an unemployment allowance for six months, the Lok Sabha was told on Monday.
Such employees will get an allowance in cash equal to half of their wages computed on the basis of average salary for their entire service, labour minister Oscar Fernandes said during the question hour.
The allowance will be given under the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana, launched by ESIS in 2005 with an aim to provide a social safety net, he said.
Under the scheme, employees who lose their employment due to retrenchment and are insured for five or more years with the ESIS are entitled to unemployment allowance in cash equal to 50 per cent of their wage upto six months during his entire service, Fernandes said.
Workers who have lost jobs due to retrenchment, closure of factories/establishments or permanent invalidity due to non-employment injury are entitled to unemployment allowance, he said.
In addition, the employee and his family members are also entitled to medical care, the minister said.
Fernandes said no exhaustive study has been conducted regarding increase of unemployment due to slow industrial development, closure of industrial units and global economic recession.