Headline labour force survey data masks a pressing employment problem how lucky joker 100 jobs.

Headline labour force survey data masks a pressing employment problem

Agriculture consumes not only new workers but also workers who have left other economic departments.

Summary

  • Starting point: According to the early PLFS estimation of 2023-2024, the Indian labor population has increased to about 673 million from 2022-2023 to about 677 million, declining. However, behind important data, the quality of employment and the restless desires are lying.
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Last week, the National Statistics Bureau (ONS) published a regular labor survey (PLFS) 2023-24. The seventh report of the annual report series, unlike the first year, was announced in just three months after the survey, unlike the first year.

Regarding Indian urban areas, NSO regularly publishes PLFS reports every quarter, but rural data is only available as part of the annual report.

According to recent reports, the NSO will publish an unemployment survey in rural and urban areas every month. Timely data is welcome.

But what exactly is this data about the current state of the Indian economy? Many of the labor market discussions are limited to the importance of unemployment and employment creation in India.

Also read: RBI data reveals more jobs in India, private surveys paint bleak unemployment picture, flag quality concerns

This may be appropriate for developed countries, but not for India. Given that a considerable part of the working population is a lo w-wage no n-regular employment, the creation of employment and the estimation of incomplete employment are likely to be misleading.

A preliminary estimate of the 2023-2024 PLFS round is expected to increase from 563 million in 2022-2023 to 677 million in 2022-2023 in 2023-2024. Although this increase is not a precedent, it is considered part of the trend that was observed after 2017-2018 when the PLFS series began.

Since then, 149 million people have joined the labor force. The rough estimate of the unemployment rate has shown that since 2017-2018, the value of unemployment has dropped sharply in rural areas, urban areas, men and women. All of these may indicate that our economy is working well.

However, it is not only early and there is no basis to conclude that there is no problem in the labor market in India. The precedent, one of the major directions of this year's federal budget, suggests that dissatisfaction with the existence of the workspace is a serious national issue.

There is no doubt that the employment statistics deserve more attention. With bottomless tests, one can imagine the existence of underlying structural problems. For starters, India is implementing the reverse structural changes expected of a developing economy like ours.

Also read: Unemployment crisis: 83% of jobless Indians are youth, says International Labour Organisation Report

Unlike the period 2004-05 to 2017-2018, when agricultural employment fell by 66 million, it has increased by 68 million in the subsequent period.

It is not enough that all the gains from the shift of labor from the least productive agriculture to the highest levels of employment have been wiped out, for example, agricultural labor force is now at an all-time high.

One consequence is a decline in labor productivity per worker in agriculture, and food income per worker may have declined from 2017 to 2018 despite increased production.

Secondly, the latest PLFS data shows that a significant proportion of the 44 million people added to the labor force are in rural areas, where hardship remains pronounced and has worsened over time.

From 2017-18 to 2023-24, three-quarters of the increase in the labour force will come from the rise in working women, rural, agricultural, self-employed and unpaid domestic workers.

For example, why does agriculture consume so many workers when the rural economy is struggling? Over the past decade, the sector's open farmland has shrunk and the need for labour has decreased due to increased mechanisation.

However, agriculture is consuming not only new workers but also those displaced from other sectors. At the same time, the share of employment in manufacturing has steadily declined from 2017 to 2018.

It is too early to talk about deindustrialisation from a labour market perspective, but perhaps financial problems have forced people to return to farms where wages are low.

The decline of India's landed economy is only getting worse as agriculture is considered a refuge for all those who cannot find work elsewhere. A close look at the data also confirms that benefits are declining among regular workers and labour standards are deteriorating.

The PLFS report is a timely reminder that our problem is not with space or unemployment, but with income and quality of employment.

Also read: Only one in two Indian graduates unemployable: Economic Survey

Since the majority of workers earn less than the government-provided minimum wage, the government should focus on developing more opportunities for internships and contract work as well as improving financial standards to ensure reliable, permanent and gainful employment at scale.

India's employment problem is not about the broad numbers you see in the headlines, but about the nuances of how well-off workers are.

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Last modified 02.09.2025

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