New Delhi : As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, India has witnessed improvement in the labour market indicators in last six years with the unemployment rate declining to 3.2 per cent in 2022-23, highlights Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday by Union Minister for Finance Niramala Sitharaman.
Highlighting the employment status of workers, the Survey mentions that it is the female workforce, which is shifting to self-employment, while the male workforce’s share has been stable as evident in the sharp rise in female LFPR in the past six years, driven by rural women joining agriculture and related activities.
According to PLFS, the all-India annual unemployment rate (UR) (persons aged 15 years and above, as per usual status) has been witnessing a declining trend since the COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by a rise in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and worker-to-population ratio (WPR).
“India has witnessed a notable transformation in its employment landscape, marked by several positive trends contributing to economic growth and social development and credits the same to various factors, including economic reforms, technological advancements, and an emphasis on skill development,” the Economic Survey mentions.
Highlighting the rise in youth employment being in tandem with the youth population, the Economic Survey states the PLFS data of youth (age 15-29 years) unemployment rate declining from 17.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 10 per cent in 2022-23. Nearly two-thirds of the new subscribers in the EPFO payroll have been from the 18-28 years band.
The Survey also highlights the rising Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) for six years and attributes the same to multiple factors, including continuous high growth in agriculture output and freeing up of women’s time due to substantial expansion of access to basic amenities such as piped drinking water, clean cooking fuel and sanitation.
The organized manufacturing sector has recovered to above pre-pandemic level along with the higher wage growth seen in the rural areas during the last five years, which bodes well for demand creation in the countryside. During FY15-FY22, the wages per worker in rural areas grew at 6.9 per cent CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) vis-à-vis a corresponding 6.1 per cent CAGR in urban areas, it states.
State-wise, the top six states in terms of the number of factories were also the greatest factory employment creators. More than 40 per cent of factory employment was in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. In contrast, the highest employment growth between FY18 and FY22 was seen in states with a higher share of young population, including Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the Survey states.
The organised sector job market conditions measured by payroll data for EPFO indicate a consistent year-on-year (YoY) increase in payroll addition since FY19 (the earliest since data is available). The yearly net payroll additions to the EPFO more than doubled from 61.1 lakh in FY19 to 131.5 lakh in FY24, swiftly recovering from the pandemic aided by the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY). The EPFO membership numbers (for which older data is available) also grew by an impressive 8.4 per cent CAGR between FY15 and FY24.
