West Bengal lost 3 million jobs in informal sector in 7 years: NSO data

Maha best performer with 2.4 mn additions, shows NSO data

West Bengal lost 3 million jobs while Maharashtra added 2.4 million workers in unincorporated enterprises during the seven years from 2015-16 to 2022-23, thus topping the chart among the worst- and best-performing states.

The National Statistical Office on Friday released the latest Annual Survey on Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) report for 2021-22 and 2022-23. An analysis with the National Sample Survey’s 73rd round on unincorporated enterprises for 2015-16 showed that as many as 13 of 28 states and three Union Territories (UTs) saw a decline in the number of workers in the informal sector of the economy between 2015-16 and 2022-23. Apart from West Bengal, Karnataka (1.3 million), Tamil Nadu (1.2 million), Uttar Pradesh (791,000), Andhra Pradesh (677,000), Kerala (640,000), Assam (494,000), and Telangana (344,000) also lost jobs during the seven-year period.
 

 

Among UTs, the number of workers in unincorporated enterprises in Delhi declined by nearly 300,000 to 1.99 million from 2.3 million during the same period, followed by Chandigarh (51,000) and Puducherry (32,000). Comparable data for UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are not available.

 

On the other hand, apart from Maharashtra, Gujarat (762,000), Odisha (761,000), and Rajasthan (756,000) saw an increase in the number of employed workers in the informal sector.
 

Earlier in June, based on a fact sheet for ASUSE, Business Standard reported that the total number of workers employed in the vast informal sector in India in the 2022-23 period had declined by 1.7 million to 109.6 million from the pre-pandemic period of 2015-16.
 

Labour economist Santosh Mehrotra says that states with a larger non-farm sector or a relatively larger industrial base have more of these enterprises, and the deterioration of the employment opportunities provided by these units has been very much part of the successive policy-induced shocks in the past few years.
 

“In the non-farm sector, these unincorporated units are the biggest providers of employment. While the total number of establishments may have increased after the pandemic, it is primarily due to an increasing number of own-account enterprises. These units do not generate jobs, so the total number of workers employed remains low,” he added.
 

In the Indian context, the unincorporated sector is important because of the large number of establishments in this sector and the magnitude of employment it provides to unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled persons, besides its contribution to the gross domestic product of the country. 

These enterprises typically include small businesses, vendors, hawkers, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and other businesses that are not incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, or the Companies Act, 2013.