Unemployment vs Poverty in India
India will struggle to create enough jobs for its growing workforce over the next decade even if the economy grows at a rapid pace of 7 per cent, Citigroup Inc. said, suggesting the world’s most-populous nation will need more concerted steps to boost employment and skills.
An analysis of the official data showed about 46 per cent of the workforce is still employed in agriculture, even though the sector contributes less than 20 per cent to gross domestic product. Manufacturing accounted for 11.4 per cent of total jobs in 2023, a lower share than in 2018, the figures show, a sign that the sector hasn’t bounced back since the pandemic.
Also, fewer people are employed in the formal sector now than before Covid — the share was 25.7 per cent in 2023, the lowest level in at least 18 years, Citi said. Only 21 per cent of the workforce — or about 122 million people — in India have jobs that pay a salary or wages, compared with 24 per cent before the pandemic. More than half of the 582 million workers in India are self-employed, the figures show.
The official data by government show that the unemployment rate is sitting at 3.2 percent. This seems a paradox as most of this data clashes with the poverty data.