More people now employed in agri than before Covid, says PLFS data

PLFS data says share of manufacturing up

The share of workers in manufacturing still remains below the pre-pandemic levels while there is an increase in the proportion of people in agriculture, shows the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data.

The data shows the share of workers in manufacturing is 11.4 per cent while the pre-pandemic level was 12.1 per cent. And, the share of people in agriculture has increased to 46.1 per cent from 42.5 per cent during the same period.  

Experts attribute the decline in the share of workers in manufacturing to a slow revival in the sector, coupled with changes in migration patterns of workers from labour-surplus states.

Santosh Mehrotra, professor, University of Bath, said the reverse migration from industrial states during the pandemic led to a proliferation of nearly 60 million people in agriculture.

“Successive policy shocks like demonetisation and lockdown reinforced a reversal of the structural transformation that India’s economy was undergoing, where people were moving out of agriculture to manufacturing. This also led to a decline in the share of manufacturing to the gross value added,” he added.

Among states, the data shows the share of workers in manufacturing in states such as Assam (9.27 per cent from 10.55 per cent), Bihar (5.17 per cent from 5.3 per cent), Odisha (7.17 per cent from 8.15 per cent), West Bengal (16.66 per cent from 18.66 per cent), Tamil Nadu (15.97 per cent from 18.74 per cent), Karnataka (10.86 per cent from 11.74 per cent), and Andhra Pradesh (9.64 per cent from 10.6 per cent) declined. 

Two industrialised states -- Gujarat (21.64 per cent from 20.84 per cent) and Maharashtra (12.66 per cent from 11.24 per cent) -- have seen a recovery in the share of workers engaged in manufacturing along with interior states like Chhattisgarh (6.6 per cent), Uttarakhand (13.02 per cent), Haryana (18.3 per cent), Telangana (12.8 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (7.9 per cent), and Himachal Pradesh (8.6 per cent).

K R Shyam Sundar, adjunct professor, Management Development Institute, said migrant workers from interior states had fundamentally changed their migration patterns. 

“There is a clear geographical shift in the way workers migrate. They are now undertaking intra-state movements or moving only to neighbouring states. Industrial states, particularly in the south, are no longer the preferred choice for migration due to the long distances involved. Also, a lot of surplus labour states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh have done better in keeping their workers,” he added.