The Ministry of Labour and Employment is an institution of the Government of India, and one of its oldest and most important Ministries, responsible for the welfare of workers and the enforcement of labour laws. Its main responsibility is to protect and safeguard the interests of workers, particularly the poor and disadvantaged sections of society, while fostering a healthy work environment for higher productivity. Jagjivan Ram was the first Labour Minister of independent India, serving from 1947 to 1952 in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet.
The Ministry works by formulating and implementing policies, programs, and schemes related to labour policy, social security, occupational safety, and industrial relations. It administers key statutory and autonomous organizations like the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), which provide social security benefits. The Ministry also manages schemes like the National Career Service (NCS) portal, launched on July 20, 2015, to connect job seekers and employers, and the E-Shram portal, introduced on August 1, 2021, to create a database for unorganised sector workers.
A major recent change is the consolidation of 29 central labour laws into four comprehensive Labour Codes. These are the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. These Codes, which became legally effective from November 21, 2025, aim to simplify compliance, modernize provisions, and extend social security to new categories of workers, including gig and platform workers. A key provision is the uniform definition of "wages," which must constitute at least 50% of total remuneration for statutory calculations like gratuity and provident fund. The Ministry's responsibilities related to vocational skill training and apprenticeship were transferred to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship on November 9, 2014.