IT and BPO sectors saw the maximum increase in employment opportunities at about 3 lakh during the first quarter of this year, a government survey said today.

"The maximum increase of 2.87 lakh in employment was in the IT/BPO sector during January-March 2011 over September-December quarter last year," the survey said.

This was followed by the metal sector where employment rose by 0.16 lakh jobs between January and March as compared to September-December quarter last year while automobile sector came in next with an increase in employment by 0.13 lakh jobs.

The survey, the 10th in the series, was carried out by the Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Eight selected sectors such as textiles, including apparels and leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport, IT/BPO and handloom/power loom were covered in this survey, covering 2,406 establishments spread across eleven states.

It said during this period, overall employment rose by 1.74 lakh in these sectors except the textile sector.

The textile sector saw a fall in employment generation by 1.21 lakh, the survey said.

The survey further said in the export oriented units, the employment at the overall level increased by 1.99 lakh whereas in the non-exporting units, it has decreased by 0.25 lakh during this period as compared to the previous quarter. (PTI)