H50 Unorganised Labour

In accordance with the K-shaped recovery that India has been witnessing over the last few years, the ASUSE also shows a slowdown in the growth of the USE. While the official press releases and the report are focussing on the growth between 2021-22 and 2022-23, a more useful comparison would be to look at 2022-23 with the earlier survey in 2015-16. https://thewire.in/labour/asuse-reports-informal-workers-employment While 2021-22 was an abnormal year, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, this longer period can also give an indication of the impact of the two major economic shocks that affected the informal sector particularly – demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax, as well as that of the pandemic. Over 85% of the USEs are own account enterprises (OAEs) and only the remaining 15% are hired worker establishments (HWEs). The GVA per OAE is only Rs 1.27 lakhs in 2022-23 i.e. these enterprises are making hardly Rs 10,000 a month. The hired workers’ emoluments on average have also fallen slightly in real terms in 2022-23 compared to 2015-16. In 2022-23, hired workers in HWEs on average received Rs 1.25 lakhs annually. Therefore, even workers in these relatively bigger enterprises are earning only about Rs 10,000 a month, lower than the minimum wages in many states. Despite all the fuss about digitisation, at the all-India level only 6.1% of the enterprises reporting using a computer, up from 5% in 2015-16. The USEs are also a significant source of employment for women. Almost 26% of all workers in the USEs are female, 31% of workers in OAEs and 17% of workers in HWEs. In terms of ownership of enterprises, as expected women are grossly under-represented. by Dipa Sinha 16/07/2024