Despite growth, why Indian workers need to worry https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/indian-daily-wage-workers-gdp-growth-employment-nrega-9082576/ Ishan Bakshi December 26, 2023 India’s workforce rose from around 460 million in 2017-18 to roughly 560 million in 2022-23 — an increase of 100 million workers over a five-year period. But, during this period, employment in the more productive manufacturing sector grew by just a shade above two million on average each year, while in the less productive agriculture sector, it rose by more than eight million. (The absolute numbers are based on population projections).
Notions of empowerment via self-employment ring hollow considering their meagre earnings. Not only have real incomes (adjusting for inflation) of self-employed women in rural areas barely risen, but they actually earn less compared to others.
This combination of a rapidly growing workforce, where new entrants are more reliant on less productive forms of employment in the least productive sectors, and an investment cycle that is more dependent on governments and households than the corporate sector, calls for a more measured, nuanced assessment of the country’s growth prospects.
It should be a matter of concern that this seemingly healthy economic momentum has, so far, not translated into a commensurate increase in more productive employment opportunities for the millions entering the labour force every year.