India’s Workforce and Job Growth: Key Insights from the Economic Survey 2023-24
The Economic Survey 2023-24, released by the finance ministry, provides a detailed look at India’s workforce and employment trends. India’s workforce stands at nearly 56.5 crore, with 45% employed in agriculture, 11.4% in manufacturing, 28.9% in services, and 13% in construction.
Rising Female Labour Force Participation
The survey highlights a significant rise in female labour force participation over the last six years, increasing from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 37% in 2022-23. This growth is mainly driven by rural women.
Declining Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate has decreased to 3.2% in 2022-23, showing a recovery from pandemic shocks in both urban and rural areas.
Job Creation and Skill Development
To meet the demands of a growing population, India needs to generate nearly 78.51 lakh jobs annually in the non-farm sector. The survey notes that net payroll additions under EPFO have more than doubled in the past five years, indicating healthy growth in formal employment.
Balancing Technology and Labour
As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent, the survey stresses the importance of balancing technology deployment and labour. Agro-processing and the care economy are identified as promising sectors for quality employment.
Regulatory Obstacles
Regulatory obstacles such as land use restrictions, building codes, and limits on sectors and hours for women’s employment hinder job creation. Removing these barriers is essential to boost employment and raise women’s labour force participation rate.
Policy Focus Areas
The survey outlines six key areas for policy focus: boosting private investment, expanding MSMEs, recognizing agriculture’s potential, securing green transition financing, bridging the education-employment gap, and building state capacity and capability.
Future Growth
With continued structural reforms, the Indian economy can grow at a rate of 7% plus on a sustained basis, requiring collaboration between the Union Government, State Governments, and the private sector.
Doubts Revealed
Economic Survey -: The Economic Survey is a report by the Indian government that reviews the country’s economic progress and challenges over the past year. It helps in planning for the future.
2023-24 -: This refers to the financial year starting from April 2023 to March 2024. It’s how the government measures its budget and economic activities.
56.5 crore -: Crore is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to 10 million. So, 56.5 crore means 565 million people.
Female labour force participation -: This means the percentage of women who are working or looking for work. In 2022-23, 37% of women in India were part of the workforce.
Unemployment rate -: This is the percentage of people who want to work but can’t find jobs. In India, it has dropped to 3.2%, which means fewer people are without jobs.
Job creation -: This means making new jobs for people. The survey says India needs to create more jobs for its growing population.
Skill development -: This means teaching people new skills or improving their current skills so they can get better jobs.
Regulatory obstacles -: These are rules or laws that make it hard for businesses to start or grow. Removing them can help create more jobs.
Agro-processing -: This is turning raw farm products into finished goods, like making wheat into flour. It can create jobs and add value to farm produce.
Care economy -: This includes jobs like childcare, elder care, and healthcare. These jobs are important for taking care of people and can create many employment opportunities.
