K-shaped Recovery Dents Growth of Worker Earnings

How has growth and structural change in the economy affected the labour market outcome for the disadvantaged caste, gender, and religious groups? These are some of the major issues dealt by the State of Working India 2023 report brought out by the Centre for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University. The report highlights the outcome gaps that persist despite the gains made on various fronts and notes the urgent need for remedial steps to push the economy towards more inclusive growth.

At the outset, the report highlights some of the major macro gains made on the employment front in the recent years. It notes that in the four years between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the working-age population has gone up by 53 million to 1,021 million, that is, it increased by an annual average of around 13 million. However, the numbers joining the labour force rose much faster at an annual rate of 15 million per annum to 528 million during the period.