Even as unemployment falls, lack of ‘decent work’ in India

Why in news?

A study using PLFS data finds India’s job quality improved slightly since 2017-18, but most work remains informal and insecure.

UPSC Relevance 

Mains GS2: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections; mechanisms and laws for their protection.

Mains GS3: Indian economy – growth, development and employment; inclusive growth.

What is Decent Work?

Having a job is not the same as having decent work. A garment worker without a contract, a delivery rider without insurance, or a construction labourer without paid leave is “employed”, but not decently employed.

• ILO definition: Decent work is productive work that gives a fair income, security at the workplace, social protection for families, freedom to organise, and equal opportunity and treatment for women and men.
• Decent Work Agenda (ILO, 1999): Has four pillars:
  • Employment creation – enough jobs with fair income.
  • Rights at work – freedom of association, no forced or child labour, no discrimination.
  • Social protection – safe workplaces, health cover, pension, maternity benefits.
  • Social dialogue – talks between workers, employers and government.
  • Gender equality is a cross-cutting theme across all four.
• SDG 8: “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” Target 8.5 seeks full employment and equal pay for work of equal value; Target 8.8 seeks protection of labour rights and safe working environments.
• Job-counting vs job-quality: Unemployment rate only tells us whether people are working. Decent work asks what kind of work, at what wage, with what security.

Constitutional and Legal Framework

• Labour is in the Concurrent List: Both Centre and States can make laws on trade unions, industrial disputes, welfare of labour and social security.
• Fundamental Rights: Article 23 (ban on forced labour/begar) and Article 24 (no child labour in factories, mines and hazardous work).
• Directive Principles:
  • Article 39(a) and (d): adequate means of livelihood; equal pay for equal work.
  • Article 41: right to work, education and public assistance in certain cases.
  • Article 42: just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
  • Article 43: living wage and decent standard of life; Article 43A: workers’ participation in management.

Key Findings of the Study

• Unemployment rate fell from 6.1% (2017-18) to 3.2% (2023-24), and female workforce participation rose for the first time in decades.
• Job quality improved, but the level is still very low. The Decent Work Index (DWI) rose from 0.247 to 0.302.
• Uneven progress: Women from STs and OBCs saw decent-work outcomes decline, while men’s outcomes improved. Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Haryana do well; Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh lag.
• Informality: Nearly 90% of the workforce is informally employed, a share that has risen since 2019 (India Employment Report 2024, ILO-IHD).

Sector-wise Decent Work Index

Why Low Unemployment Can Mislead

• Disguised and under-employment: Many people work fewer hours or in low-productivity jobs, mainly in agriculture, but are still counted as employed.
• Self-employment as fallback: More than half of India’s workers are self-employed, including unpaid helpers in household enterprises. Much of this is ‘survival work’, not entrepreneurship.
• Distress-driven women’s work: Part of the rise in female workforce participation is in unpaid family work and agriculture, especially in rural areas.
• Poor counting tools: PLFS ‘usual status’ counts a person as employed even with limited work during the year.

Causes of the Decent Work Deficit

• Structural transformation is incomplete: Workers leaving farms move mainly into construction and low-end services, not into factory jobs. Manufacturing’s share in employment has stayed around 11-12%.
• Contractualisation: Even organised firms rely on contract and outsourced labour to cut costs and avoid compliance, so ‘informal jobs in formal sector’ are growing.
• Rise of gig and platform work: It offers flexibility and quick entry, but workers are treated as ‘partners’, not employees, with no minimum wage or leave.
• MSME dominance: Most enterprises are tiny and unregistered, with thin margins and low capacity to provide benefits.
• Skill mismatch: Only a small share of workers have formal vocational training, while educated youth face high unemployment.
• Caste and gender barriers: Women, especially Dalit, Adivasi and OBC women, are crowded into low-paid, unsafe work. The study shows this penalty has deepened after COVID-19.
• Weak enforcement and voice: Low unionisation, few labour inspectors and weak grievance redressal limit workers’ bargaining power.

Way Forward

• Shift to a job-quality approach: Track a Decent Work Index alongside the unemployment rate in official reporting.
• Universal and portable social protection: Benefits should follow the worker across jobs and States, covering gig, self-employed, farm and informal workers.
• Link incentives to labour standards: Tax breaks, PLI and subsidies should require written contracts, paid leave and social security contributions.
• Labour-intensive manufacturing: Push sectors such as textiles, food processing, leather and electronics assembly, especially in lagging States.
• Intersectional policy: Childcare, safe transport, skill training and anti-discrimination safeguards for marginalised women.
• Strengthen social dialogue: Revive tripartite bodies such as the Indian Labour Conference and improve inspection and grievance systems.
• Implement the Labour Codes fully: Notify rules quickly and operationalise the social security fund for gig workers.

India’s jobs story is now less about how many people work and more about how they work. Dignity, security and fair pay must become the measure of success.

Practice MCQ

Q1. Consider the following pairs:

How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

(a) Only one     (b) Only two     (c) Only three     (d) All four

Answer: (c)

Explanation: Pair 2 is incorrect. Living wage is under Article 43. Article 41 deals with the right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases.

Mains Practice Question

“Falling unemployment in India has not been matched by a rise in decent work.” Discuss the reasons for the decent work deficit in India and suggest measures to move from a job-counting to a job-quality approach. (15 Marks, 250 words)

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