Six Things ‘Equity Research’ Says About India’s Workforce In Its Report
India’s working age population is estimated to be around 961m out of which 585m are seeking jobs. Creating employment opportunities for such a large population poses a significant challenge for the government despite the unemployment rate being at a 5 year low.
However as per the latest report by Equity Research, India is showing a positive trend in this regard.
As per the Report, there are 6 broad themes which convey an outlook of India’s workplace scenario.
Job Creation :- Trade, Hotel and Transport service saw maximum job creation in the last 4 years followed by the construction sector which is expected to grow by 7.5+ CAGR over the next 5 years.
Top Employers :- Agriculture remains the top employer with 41.5 % of the workforce engaged in Agriculture and allied activities. Construction contributed 12.4% followed by Manufacturing which contributed 11.6%.
Labour Force :- Due to demographic shift Labour Force addition is expected to slow to 6mn by 2030 from 9.5m/ year in 2011-2014. Also it is expected that around 4mn people will shift from agriculture to non agricultural activities during the same period.
Shift in employment:- As per the report according to government data, the economy created 41m new jobs over 2018-2022 outside agriculture. As per the report there’s room for about 3-4m/year shift from agri to non-agri labour.
Skill Development:- Ministry of skill development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in partnership with National skill development corporation (NSDC) has built mainly 4 schemes with a gross enrollment of 25mn people in 4 years until FY20. Placement ratio of PMKVY 2.0(2016-20) was 23% which fell to 10% during 2020-2022.
Employment Data :- Total EPFO( Employee Provident Fund Org) active members are 70m and the last 5 years alone have added 48.5m. As per the report this appears to be too high a number in terms of new formal jobs creation and implies improving employment conditions though not net additions.