India's Labour Economy
Increase in self-employed workers: Economic Survey
Pointing towards a decrease in regular jobs and shift towards casual employment, the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Friday (January 31, 2025) found that the proportion of self-employed workers in the workforce has risen from 52.2% in 2017-18 to 58.4% in 2023-24. “This shift reflects growing entrepreneurial activity and a preference for flexible work arrangements,” the survey claimed. It has also added that the agriculture sector still remains dominant in employment with its share rising from 44.1% in 2017-18 to 46.1% in 2023-24.
Sluggish wage growth can be a drag on the economy
NEW DELHI: Govt on Friday flagged its concern over wage growth lagging the rise in corporate profitability - which hit a 15-year high last fiscal, driven by large companies - and argued for a fairer distribution to boost growth and consumption. "A higher profit share and stagnant wage growth risk slowing the economy by curbing demand. Sustained economic growth hinges on bolstering employment incomes, which directly fuel consumer spending, spurring investment in production capacity," the Economic Survey said, while pointing to the "social contract" between govt, businesses and workers in Japan.
Workers need cover from AI impact.
Both govt and private companies should introduce Al over optimised period to minimise job loss. The government will need to provide safety nets for workers to shield them from the economic and social fallouts that may arise due to artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on jobs, the Economic Survey for 2024-25 (FY25) has said. The onus of ensuring the introduction of AI over an optimised period to minimise job loss and its impact lies with both the government and private sector, the Survey noted.
Employment News
Budget 2025 overlooks joblessness
Tax breaks for income tax payers along with cuts in capital and welfare expenditure are unlikely to raise the living standards of the vast majority of working people. The previous Budget, presented in July 2024 after the Lok Sabha election, had accorded priority to employment and skill development, given the nature of the election mandate. The Finance Minister had announced a Prime Minister’s Package of five schemes and initiatives to facilitate job and internship opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a five-year period with a central outlay of ₹2 lakh crore. However, the Budget speech delivered in Parliament on February 1, 2025, did not refer to the Prime Minister’s Package even once.
Budget 2024: Allocation for MGNREGS lower than last year’s actual expenditure, despite BJP’s poll losses in rural India
This year’s allocation is ₹19,297 crore less than last year’s expenditure, and does not account for the sharp rise in demand in the first quarter of the year; as a share of the total Budget, this marks a 10-year low.
Women in the Workforce
Disappointing Budget’, Employment Crisis Faced by Women, Youth Ignored: AIDWA.
“The lack of focus on the welfare of ordinary people and women is reflected in the continuing decline in public spending and drastic reductions in social sector expenditure, especially when the estimates are adjusted for core inflation rates of 5-6 percent. The central government expenditure as a percentage of total GDP has declined from 14.55 percent in 2024-25 to 14.18 percent in the estimates of 2025-26. The revised estimate on centrally sponsored schemes for 2024-25, published in this budget shows a decline of 18 percent as compared to the budget estimate,” it said in a statement, adding that “this shows that the government has not been spending even the meagre allocations that it had made in the last year,” said a statement by AIDWA
Made for each other: rural women and self help groups a match for growth
Economic Survey focuses on how linking financially less privileged rural women to self help groups, welfare schemes and direct benefit transfers (DBTs) has the potential to spur consumption and income-generating activities in low-income households. The Survey says social sector initiatives have reduced inequality and increased consumption spending, as reflected in the the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 that highlights the narrowing urban-rural gap in consumption expenditure.
Migrant Realities
In migrant haven Kerala women get hitched to guest workers
Love at the workplace is the new social glue for migrant workers from eastern India moving to Kerala in droves for higher wages and a welfare net that includes insurance and accommodation. Many Malayali women are marrying "guest workers" in India's homegrown Gulf, which is projected to have a migrant population of around 50 lakh by 2030. An exodus of young, educated Malayali men seeking work abroad seems to have created not just a productivity gap in the state but also played a role in local women choosing their life partners from among eligible bachelors from the east looking to settle in Kerala.
News from States
Vanishing Meadows: Loss of Grazing Pastures Pushing Bakerwals to the Margins
The nomads in this small Bijbehera village fight an existential crisis as meadows – their basic source of livelihood – become out of bounds. The Bakerwals, who once roamed freely across Kashmir’s lush meadows, find survival harder.
Providing Jobs
50 new tourist spots on anvil to boost jobs
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a comprehensive plan to transform 50 destinations into world-class tourist hubs as part of the Union Budget 2025-26, marking a significant push to develop India's tourism sector. The initiative, which includes development of Buddhist circuits and medical tourism facilities, comes with a substantial increase in the tourism ministry's budget allocation to ₹2,541.06 crore for 2025-26, up from the revised estimate of ₹850.36 crore in 2024-25.
Farm News
Budget 2025-26: ‘Cruel and Unjustified’, Say Farmer Groups on no Legal MSP, Loan Waiver
In a statement, the farmers’ collective, which spearheaded the historic farmers struggle against the now repealed three farm laws, said that the Budget acknowledged the unchecked profits of the corporate sector, yet did not act to distribute the dividend among farmers, who Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned as the ‘first engine of the economy’.
Dying at Work
Days after SC ban on manual scavenging, 3 die in Kol manhole
Three construction workers died while repairing a sewer join inside a 10ft deep manhole at Kolkata Leather Complex, allegedly without protective gear, drowned Sunday morning after possibly inhaling toxic gas, police said. The deaths occurred three days after SC clamped a blanket ban on manual scavenging and sewer cleaning in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Domestic Workers
Flats, Rs 10L insurance among AAP promises for domestic helps
NEW DELHI: With days to go for the Delhi Assembly polls, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced seven guarantees, including EWS flats and working hour rules, for domestic workers employed at official residences of MPs, ministers, and government officers. A servant registration portal, salary regulations, Rs 10 lakh insurance cover, and free education for their children are also among the guarantees.
Workplace? Home? Why ensuring domestic workers’ rights has proved so challenging
The asymmetric relationship between employer and employee, where the workplace is the former’s private space and the latter’s workplace is an issue that makes the sector qualitatively different. Supreme Court has ordered the government to form an inter-ministerial committee to “consider the desirability of recommending a legal framework for the benefit, protection and regulation of the rights of domestic workers”. The committee is to give its report in six months to the government based on which the latter is directed to decide on a law for domestic workers.
India needs a law to protect domestic workers’ rights
Whatever the challenges, legislation on domestic work would surely help in redefining the power relations in the long run and will give some voice to the workers and their unions
Worker Welfare
Union Budget 2025: 1 crore gig workers to get Ayushman Bharat cover; Health Ministry spend up ₹9,000 crore
Last year, the government expanded the coverage of the flagship health scheme to all citizens over the age of 70 years, irrespective of their economic status. This year Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Ayushman Bharat coverage for one crore gig workers.
Did Budget 2025 Finally Fix India’s Gig Workers’ Woes?
• The proposed social security scheme will aim to benefit nearly 1 Cr gig workers by providing them health insurance along with death and disability coverage • Aggregator platforms should be mandated to share data on their workers with the government to ensure effective implementation of the scheme, say union leaders • To be helmed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the initiative is slated for a likely rollout in the next financial year