Share of self-employed goes up after the pandemic, says NSO report

Report shows 39.5 per cent male workers and 39.4 per cent female workers in urban India declared themselves self-employed

Amid massive loss of formal employment during the pandemic, more men and women in urban India declared themselves self-employed in 2021-22, according to a report released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The report titled “Women and Men in India 2022” showed 39.5 per cent male workers and 39.4 per cent female workers in urban India declared that they were self-employed, compared with 38.7 per cent and 34.5 per cent, respectively, during the pre-pandemic year of 2018-19. In 2020-21, when the pandemic hit the Indian economy, the share of salaried persons in urban India dipped to 45.3 per cent for