Lower-middle-income trap

Without structural transformation in India's workforce, growth will necessarily sputter in the future

Much has been written about a recent report issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO), together with the Institute for Human Development (IHD), about India’s employment situation since 2000. The report, which uses publicly available government data but takes it a step forward by comparing the results from surveys that had been conducted with different methodologies, makes for disheartening reading. The report writers’ interpretation of the data can be starkly summarised: any structural transformation of the Indian workforce has run into severe problems. Indeed, in some aspects — such as those dependent on agriculture — there are signs the country