India must grow at 18% to ensure jobs to growing workforce: World Bank

Insufficient female labour participation, employment key challenges, says the report

If employment growth per percentage point gross domestic product (GDP) growth remains business-as-usual, then India would need to grow at 18 per cent per year to ensure employment to the burgeoning workforce, a World Bank (WB) report has said.

However, it has said that attaining such rates is not possible and that growth rates alone cannot solve the looming jobs challenge in India, at a time when the job-demanding population is on an organic rise.

“These (growth) rates are implausibly high, implying that rapid growth alone will not be enough. If South Asian countries are serious about increasing employment rates,