Why in News?
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released the results of Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2023-24.
What are the changes in the labour market?
- Employment growth – As per the RBI KLEMS database, 46.7 million jobs were created in FY24 , more than double the 19.1 million in FY23.
- Increase in MSME job - The MSME Udyam portal has jobs rising from 121 million in 2023 to 201.9 million in 2024.
- Increase in manufacturing employment - The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) FY23 found manufacturing employees increased 7.5% to 18.4 million from 17.2 million in FY21.
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) shows the average rate of growth of manufacturing employment rising from 1.15 per annum (pa) over 2017/18-19/20 to 5.8 pa over 2019/20 to 2022/23.
- Increasing diversity in rural jobs – The 2023-24 PLFS annual report shows only 59.8% of usual status rural workers are in agriculture, the rest are in various types of RNFE.
- Rise in rural female labour force participation rate (LFPR)- The share of male workers in agriculture fell to 49.4 per cent and that of female rose to 76.9 per cent.
- Declining share of agri income - The share of agriculture in average household income fell from 22 % to 8 %.
- Rise of rural manufacturing employment – It has grown at 4 % , exceeding the 3.8 % growth in urban manufacturing.
- Self-employed Wage growth - PLFS shows the self-employed had the largest average wage growth in 2023-24 at 9.6 %, followed by casual workers at 7.4 % , compared with regular wage at only 5.5 %.
What are the reasons for the change?
- Balanced growth – Steady and balanced high growth of the past few years is delivering more jobs at all levels.
- Migration - As males migrate or shift to rural non-farm employment (RNFE) more women are working.
- Skill development - Income growth tends to come more from moving up the job ladder with skill-growth than from rising average real wages.
- Digital Penetration – Digitalization has created new job opportunities in fields like IT, e-commerce, and digital marketing.
- It has also led to job displacement in traditional sectors due to automation and technological advancements.
- Government contribution – Post-pandemic countercyclical macroeconomic and other supportive polices were able to sustain growth despite external shocks and creating jobs.
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Government schemes on labour market change
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- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) – Increased the rural wage and reduced rural urban migration)
- Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) – Enhanced the employability through skill development and placement in wage employment
- Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) - Promoted self-employment by providing training and financial assistance.
- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) - Created sustainable livelihoods by enhancing access to financial services and promoting self-employment.
- Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) - A credit-linked subsidy program aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector.
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What lies ahead?
- Skilling facilities and job-specific training will help staff climb the quality and rewards ladder.
- Policies that proved both feasible and effective post pandemic must be continued to deliver high growth and more jobs.
- Emphasis on upskilling and reskilling to meet the demands of emerging sectors like AI and healthcare
Reference
Businessline | Sustaining change in Indian labour markets
