 "Boost to PLI, MITRA schemes to unlock non-farm job growth: Economic Survey")
The Indian economy has to generate an average of 7.8 million jobs annually until 2030 in the non-farm sector to cater to the rising workforce, female participation in labour force, and labour shifting out of agriculture, the Economic Survey 2023-24 released on Monday said.
The survey attempted a broad estimation of the requirement for job creation in the non-farm sector, assuming that the share of agriculture in the workforce will decline from 45.8 per cent in 2023 to “one-fourth” in 2047.
The survey notes that in order to meet this demand in the non-farm sector per year, there is scope to supplement the existing schemes like production-linked incentive (6 million employment generation over five years), PM MITRA textile scheme (2 million jobs), and MUDRA, etc.
Further, the survey identifies two sectors — agro processing and care economy — for generating these additional jobs.
The agro-processing sector lies at the intersection of multiple opportunities for rural growth, besides being an intermediate sector for the ‘farm-to-factory’ transition, with avenues for captive demand of agro-processed output. Meanwhile, developing the care economy is crucial when viewed through the lens of fairness and efficiency of increasing the female labour force participation by affording equal opportunity to participate in paid work.
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The 10 most populous states collectively impose 139 prohibitions on women from participating in factory processes, such as electroplating, petroleum generation, manufacturing of products, such as pesticides, glass, and rechargeable batteries.
In March, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its India Employment Report had noted that India was likely to add 7–8 million persons annually to the labour force during the next decade or so. To absorb them along with existing unemployed and underemployed youths, the country needs to have a high rate of growth but also an employment-intensive process of growth, which requires giving primacy to labour-intensive manufacturing employment to absorb the abundant unskilled labour, it had said.
On the skilling front, the survey states that there is a skill-seeker who benefits economically from better skills; there is a skill-provider who earns for imparting it and there are employers who benefit from a skilled and productive workforce. It also calls for India’s apprenticeship framework to be reformed for work-hour flexibility and better compensation.
“Therefore, it is a challenge that the market can solve and to the extent that regulatory hurdles stand in the way of the market solving this problem, that is the responsibility of the governments – union and states – to remove them,” it notes.
The survey also called upon the private sector to pick up the mantle of job creation as the profitability of the sector is at a 15-year high in FY24. It notes that businesses have an obligation to themselves to strike the right balance between deployment of capital and deployment of labour. It notes that prioritising capital over labour is inimical to long-term corporate growth prospects and businesses have to bear in mind their responsibility for employment generation and the consequent impact on social stability.
The survey also notes that over and above the quantity of employment, its quality and social security aspect has its own significance and the rising employment of flexi workers through staffing companies can be a channel for ensuring social security for informal workers.
“There are nearly 5.4 million formal contract staff or flexi workers in India employed through organised contract/temporary staffing companies. These staffing companies are responsible for the timely payout of salaries/wages, social security/medical insurance towards their contract staff. Although they work on a contract, these workers are fully protected with social security, and the average length of contract has been rising with more than 75 per cent of the contracts in 2023 for over six months,” it added.