Poor outlook for government job growth data

New Delhi: In a recent update, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje, revealed that 16.83 crore new jobs were generated in India from 2017-18 to 2023-24. However, a significant portion of these jobs were created in the agricultural sector, which only contributes 15% to India’s economy.

According to data compiled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) known as KLEMS (Capital, Labour, Energy, Materials, Services), the number of employed individuals in the country rose from 47.5 crore in 2017-18 to 64.33 crore in 2023-24, marking a remarkable 35% increase in six years.

Further analysis of the data unveiled that a majority of the employment generated were either self-employed or linked to the agriculture sector. Despite the decline in agriculture’s GDP share to 15% in 2023-24 from 35% in 1990-91, 45.8% of the country’s workforce was still engaged in agriculture in 2022-23, with an even higher percentage in rural areas at 58.4%.

Paras Jasrai, senior analyst at India Ratings, expressed concerns about rural distress, emphasizing that the employment increases, especially among women, largely involved temporary work.

Despite the decrease in agriculture’s contribution to the GDP, approximately half of the nation’s workforce remains employed in the agricultural sector. Following agriculture, the construction industry employs 13% of the workforce, while manufacturing sector employs only 11.4%.

The government’s focus on employment generation and enhancing employability was highlighted in the recent Union Budget, where Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 2 lakh crore over the next five years for skilling and job support.