MORE DISGUISED THAN EMPLOYED

India's growth story is one of paradoxes.

- Sonal Khetarpal

While unemployment is tapering off and women's participation in the labour market is seeing an uptick, concerns over the lack of quality and productive jobs loom large so goes the verdict of the 'India Employment Report 2024', published jointly by the Institute for Human Development (IHD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

'Informality' emerges as the key feature of the Indian labour market, with 81 per cent of the workforce engaged in the unorganised sector and over 90 per cent being informally employed. With the share of the jobless youth in the total unemployed populace at a staggering 82.9 per cent, the report revives fears that India may be losing out on its demographic dividend. The report also zeroes in on another paradox: women's labour force participation decreased between 2000 and 2019, but started improving thereon. On the surface, this appears promising, but, economists argue, the transition was mainly driven by a compulsion to work due to falling household incomes in rural areas.

Hence, much of the increase owed to women who entered self-employment as 'own account' workers (who neither pay nor receive salaries) and unpaid family workers, especially in villages.