The Employment Service came into existence in India under the stress of postwar demobilization. Towards the end of the Second World War, the need for a machinery which could handle orderly re-absorption of civil life, of a large number of service personnel and war workers who were about to be released was keenly felt.
In accordance with a scheme that was agreed upon by the central and State Governments, the Directorate general of Resettlement and Employment (D.G.R.& E) was set up in July 1945 and Employment Exchanges were gradually opened in several parts of the country.

Till the end of 1946, employment service facilities were restricted to demobilized service personnel and discharged war workers. In 1947, consequent upon the partition of the country, the Employment Exchanges were called upon to deal with the settlement of large number of persons who were displaced as a result of partition. Based on the recommendations of the Training and Employment Services Organization Committee headed by Sri Shiva Rao, the day to day administration of the organization was handed over to the State Governments with effect from 1st November 1956.

The Employment Service is now the joint concern of the Central and State Governments. The administrative control of the department is by the State Government. To ensure the uniformity in the functioning of the Employment Exchanges all over India, the policies and procedures to be adopted in the functional activities of the Employment Exchanges are prescribed at the national level by the Directorate General of Employment & Training, New Delhi.

In the above backdrop, the Employment Organization in different States was established. In Odisha the Directorate of Employment functions under the direct supervision of the Department of Skill Development & Technical Education Govt. of Odisha. The Directorate handles the activities of both Employment Exchanges and State Employment Mission. The Directorate is basically a regulatory body that ensures effectiveness of work, implementation of policy and procedures and takes appropriate action to bring about necessary improvements in the employment scenario. The Director of Employment is the head of the Employment Organization and also functions as Project/Mission Director of State Employment Mission in the State.

Our Vision: 

• In a 3-year period, we want corporate India to make a bee-line to Odisha, not just to hire but to “lock-in” talent. Our young men and women should command a premium in the wage market.
• In a 5-year period, we plan to skill around 15 lakhs youth, we want global preference for Odisha’s young men and women across sectors. Nations of the world will come to Odisha to hire.
• The Odisha model must be worth emulating in other parts of the world.

Our Mission:

• To shift the conversation from “Skill” to "Skilled-in-Odisha", we will create an aspirational, branded idea that the best skilled people come from Odisha

Our Objective:

• Draw up a Skill Vision for the state for 2024.
• Take all possible steps to meet skilling targets as envisaged in Chief Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (CMEGP) and broader policy of the state from time to time.
• Set up the World Skills Centre at Bhubaneswar as a global institution of repute.
• Make Odisha a leading participant at every World Skills Competition.
• Be the nodal agency for all skill development and entrepreneurship programmes in the State.
• Coordinate and harmonize the approach to skill development among various departments of the Government of Odisha in collaboration with concerned ministries of the Government of India and related organisations like the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
• To create a corpus and raise extra-budgetary resources for skill development from various sources such as international agencies, including multi-lateral agencies, and CSR funds from private sector and public sector.
• Assess and evaluate existing skill development schemes with a view to determine their efficacy and suggest corrective actions to make them more effective.
• Ensure that the skilling needs of the disadvantaged and the socio-economically marginalized groups are taken care of.
• Design, develop, execute policies and programmes and all things necessary to achieve the aforesaid objectives.