Tepid rural wage growth poses stiff challenges for economic recovery

The tepid rise in real rural wages could be a big indicator of the challenge for Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to make growth broad-based.

The data sourced from the labour bureau shows that though after months of contraction real rural wage growth moved into positive territory in September 2021, the rise is so minimal that it seems like stagnation.

Real rural wages of general agriculture labourers (male) rose just 2.64 per cent in September, followed by 3.11 per cent in October, and again 2.64 per cent in November (see chart).

The fact that this moderate growth came after almost