The explanation is rather simple: the state has not been creating good jobs for years.
It has been in the news lately that Gujarati migrants make up a huge portion of those who have been deported by the Trump administration to India.
In fact, it is understood that Gujaratis are overrepresented among illegal Indian migrants in the US at large. In 2023, out of 67,391 Indian illegal migrants in the US, Gujaratis were 41,330. https://thewire.in/labour/why-are-gujarati-migrants-fleeing-the-model-state
Not only did the growth rate of jobs not increase in proportion to the growth rate of the state GDP, but the quality of jobs did not improve either, as is evident from the informalisation process at work in the job market.
In 2022, according to the Periodic Labor Force Survey, 74% of the Gujarati workers had no written contract, against 41% in Karnataka, 53% in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 57% in Madhya Pradesh, 64% in Haryana, 65% in Maharashtra and 68% in Bihar.
More importantly, this ‘casualisation of the workforce’ resulted in low wages. In April-June 2024, the average wage earnings per day from casual labour work for Gujarat was Rs 375, less than the national average, Rs. 433 and much less than in Kerala (Rs. 836), Tamil Nadu (Rs. 584), Haryana (Rs. 486), Punjab (Rs. 449), Karnataka (Rs. 447), Rajasthan (Rs. 442), Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 432) and even Bihar (Rs. 426). The only state where wages for the casual labour force lagged behind Gujarat was Chhattisgarh (Rs. 295).
12/02/2025