The Indian economy is not just stable, but it is also indicating “resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges” says the Economic Survey. Youth participation in the labour force has been heartening and so is the participation of women, both in urban and rural India. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), unemployment has dropped from 17.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 10 per cent in 2022-23 for youth in the age group of 15 to 29 years.
As per data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), there has been a significant rise in the formal employment of youth. While there was a dip during the pandemic, the number of annual new EPF subscribers in the 18 to 28 age group has been rising. Almost two-thirds of the new subscribers in the EPFO payroll belong to this age bracket. That means, youth employment has been rising along with the youth population.
What is also heartening is that female labour force participation rate (FLFPR)—both urban and rural— has been rising for six years. Compared to urban FLFPR, the rural FLFPR has witnessed a steep rise of 16.9 percentage points between 2017-18 and 2022-23. Clearly, more women are contributing to rural production. They are certainly not joining the workforce out of distress. In fact, one reason for their increased participation is the growth in agriculture output. Also, with rural women enjoying better access to piped drinking water, clean fuel and sanitation, they now have more time on their hands to work.
As per the PLFS, over 45 per cent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, 11.4 per cent in manufacturing, 28.9 per cent in services and 13.0 per cent in construction. Agriculture is the main employment generator with almost 50 per cent of the population, especially women working in this sector.
When it comes to employment status of workers, 57.3 per cent of the total workforce is self-employed, while 18.3 per cent is working as unpaid workers in household enterprises. While casual labour accounts for 21.8 per cent of the total workforce, regular wage/salaried workers form 20.9 per cent of the total workforce. More women are shifting to self-employment, while the share of men has not changed much, remaining stable.
Data from EPFO reveals that the organised-sector job market has witnessed a consistent year-on-year (YoY) increase in payroll addition since FY19 (the earliest since data is available). In fact, since FY19, the yearly net payroll additions to the EPFO have more than doubled. That is, from 61.1 lakh in FY19, it has gone up to 131.5 lakh in FY24. There was a significant increase of 8.4 per cent in the EPFO membership numbers over the last ten years, the FY15 to FY24 period to be precise.
Measures taken by the Indian government to boost job creation seem to have worked. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities, improve its capital expenditure, and so on, have been aimed at worker welfare. With access to credit becoming convenient and reforms in processes in place, things have definitely improved.
In October 2020, the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) was introduced to boost job generation with social security benefits post-COVID-19 job losses. By the end of March 2024, this scheme had benefited 60.5 lakh individuals across 1.5 lakh establishments.
Minimum pension has been ensured to all via the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) scheme.
Affordable insurance programmes have done their bit too. Life and disability cover is now available via the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) at an annual premium of Rs 436 only, while the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) of Rs 2 lakh is available at Rs 20 only.
Gig workers and platform workers now enjoy social security benefits, thanks to the new Labour Codes that provide a Social Security Fund, to which contributions are made by the Central and state governments, aggregators, CSR and so on.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), collateral-free loans up to Rs 10 lakh, are offered to micro/small business enterprises as well as to individuals so that they can set up their businesses or expand existing businesses. At the end of March 2024, about 47.7 crore loans had been sanctioned.
And one cannot forget the game-changing rationalisation and amalgamation of 29 Central laws by the government into four Labour Codes, in 2019 and 2020. This was aimed at employment generation and doing away with outdated rules and regulations, bringing about more transparency and accountability, and relying on technology for the enforcement of labour laws.