IWWAGE Bi-monthly Seminar: Beneath the Headline Numbers: Employment Trends and Returns to Work in the Indian Labour Market

Dr. Mrinalini Jha, Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy joined us for the seminar series on Thursday, the 28th of November, 2024 to discuss Employment Trends and Returns to Work in an Indian Labour Market. Dr Jha’s expertise lies in inequality, poverty and structural transformation in the Indian economy. The lecture– a product of her ongoing work–seeks to build a narrative of the worrisome state of the Indian economy, particularly in the labour market.

The discussion began with a lucid overview of the trends in workforce participation and employment in India.Dr. Jha introduced three phases concerning employment and population:

However, Dr. Jha implores us to look beyond these headlines to focus on the quality of jobs, and how India is faring when it comes to ensuring the availability of “good jobs”. While the number of jobs created has increased, the quality of jobs has not improved. The proportion of self-employed jobs has increased, while the proportion of salaried jobs has decreased.The earnings of self-employed, casual workers, and salaried workers have not seen any positive rise either.The share of women in unpaid work has also increased. To surmise, the current trends indicate a crisis in the economy.

Dr. Jha argued that the increase in household income is not solely due to an increase in workforce participation rate (WPR), but also due to more people within a household working. She supplemented her arguments with data that indicate that while the proportion of household members working has increased, the income per worker has decreased. The increase in household income is attributable to more people, particularly women, stepping out to work at lower earning jobs. She  shared her insight on the issue of women entering the labour force primarily as unpaid helpers, and the shrinking proportion of women’s work. Dr. Jha sought  to empirically establish that it is not a choice women are making, rather an indication of economic distress.

She concluded with the reiteration that unemployment is not the best measure to evaluate the labour market’s health.Although, there has been a  steady rise in those employed as a percentage of the working-age population since 2017-18, quality as gauged from the nature of employment and earnings is worsening over time.Households are coping with economic distress by working more at lower wages to maintain total household earnings. Women joining the labour force is thus an account of this distress.This is also evident from the nature of employment women are engaged in.Productivity, as measured by earnings, is bound to increase as more members in the household work  Dr. Jha’s illuminating presentation opened the floor to many insightful comments and probing questions from the audience.