Employment Perspective and
Labour Policy
4.1. The generation of productive and gainful employment,
with decent working conditions, on a sufficient scale to
absorb our growing labour force must form a critical
element in the strategy for achieving inclusive growth.
Past record in this respect is definitely inadequate and
the problem is heightened by the fact that the relatively
higher rate of growth achieved during the last decade
or so is not seen to generate a sufficient volume of good
quality employment.
4.2. The Eleventh Plan provides an opportunity to focus
on and diagnose the reasons for past failings observed in
the employment situation and to reverse at least some of
the adverse employment outcomes associated with the
pattern of economic growth in the recent past.
WEAKNESSES IN PAST PERFORMANCE
4.3. The basic weakness in our employment performance
is the failure of the Indian economy to create a sufficient
volume of additional high quality employment to absorb
the new entrants into the labour force while also facilitating
the absorption of surplus labour that currently exists in
the agricultural sector, into higher wage, non-agricultural
employment. A successful transition to inclusive growth
requires migration of such surplus workers to other areas
for productive and gainful employment in the organized
or unorganized sector. Women agricultural workers in
families where the male head has migrated, also require
special attention given the need for credit and other
inputs if they are self-employed in agriculture or for wage
employment if they do not have land.
4.4. The approach to the Eleventh Plan had identified
the following specific weaknesses on the employment
front which illustrate the general failing just discussed.
• The rate of unemployment has increased from 6.1%
in 1993–94 to 7.3% in 1999–2000, and further to 8.3%
in 2004–05.1,2
• Unemployment among agricultural labour households
has risen from 9.5% in 1993–94 to 15.3% in 2004–05.
• Under-employment appears to be on the rise, as evident
from a widening of the gap between the usual status
(us) and the current daily status measures of creation
of incremental employment opportunities between the
periods 1994 to 2000 and 2000 to 2005 (Annexure 4.1).
• While non-agricultural employment expanded at a
robust annual rate of 4.7% during the period 1999–
2000 to 2004–05, this growth was largely in the
unorganized sector.
• Despite fairly healthy GDP growth, employment in
the organized sector actually declined, leading to
frustration among the educated youth who have rising
expectations.
• Although real wages of casual labour in agriculture
continue to rise during 2000–2005, growth has
decelerated strongly, as compared to the previous
1Unless otherwise stated, the employment and unemployment
estimates are on ‘Current Daily Status’ (CDS) basis. See Box 4.1 for
other measures of employment which are also relevant.
2Three kinds of estimates for the unemployed are obtained following
the three different approaches. See Box 4.1.
64 Eleventh Five Year Plan
quinquennium (1994–2000), almost certainly reflecting
poor performance in agriculture. However, over the
longer periods 1983 to 1993–94 (period I) and 1993–
94 to 2004–05 (Period II), the decline is moderate for
rural male agricultural casual labour, from 2.75% to
2.18% per annum.
• Growth of average real wage rates in non-agriculture
employment in the period 1999–2000 to 2004–05 has
been negligible. Seen over the longer period of two
decades (Period I and Period II), the wages have
steadily increased at over 2% per annum.
• In respect of entire rural male casual labour, the growth
in real wages accelerated from 2.55% (Period I) to
2.78% per annum (Period II) (Annexure 4.6).
• Real wages stagnated or declined even for workers in
the organized industry although managerial and
technical staff did secure large increase.
• Wage share in the organized industrial sector has
halved after the 1980s and is now among the lowest in
the world.
4.5. It is only through a massive effort at employment
creation, of the right quality, and decent conditions of
work for all sections of population and at all locations
that a fair redistribution of benefits from growth can be
achieved. This indeed is a stupendous task. Alternative
policy measures focusing on different sectors and
occupations, and the specific requirements of different
target groups are needed to create employment on a
sustainable basis.
RECENT EXPERIENCE REVISITED
4.6. The Tenth Plan was framed against the backdrop
of concerns that were posed by the employment and
unemployment survey in 1999–2000 (NSS 55th Round),
which showed very low growth of employment compared
with 1993–94. Jobless growth therefore became a key
concern and the Plan set a target of creating 50 million
new employment opportunities on a current daily status
basis. (For a brief description of different concepts of
employment see Box 4.1.)
4.7. The results of the most recent 61st Round of NSS for
2004–05 reveal a somewhat better picture of employment
growth in the Tenth Plan period than in the previous
period. During 1999–2000 to 2004–05, about 47 million
work opportunities were created as compared to only
24 million in the previous period 1993–94 to 1999–2000.
Further, employment growth accelerated from 1.25% per
annum during the period 1993–94 to 1999–2000 to 2.62%
per annum during the period 1999–2000 to 2004–05. The
annual increase in work opportunities increased from 4.0
million per year in the first period to 9.3 million per annum
in the second period (Table 4.1).
Box 4.1
The Three Kinds of Estimates of the Unemployed1
Unemployment rate is defined as the number of persons unemployed per 1000 persons in the labour force. Three kinds of
estimates for the unemployed are obtained following the three different approaches. These are:
(i) number of persons usually unemployed based on ‘usual status’ approach,
(ii) number of persons unemployed on an average in a week based on the ‘weekly status’ and
(iii) number of person-days unemployed on an average during the reference period of seven days preceding the survey.
The first estimate indicates the magnitude of persons unemployed for a relatively longer period during a reference period
of 365 days and approximates to an estimate of chronically unemployed. Some of the unemployed on the basis of this
criterion might be working in a subsidiary capacity during the reference period. The former is called as the usually unemployed
according to the principal status and the latter, the usually unemployed excluding the subsidiary status workers (us adjusted)
which admittedly will be lower than the former. The second estimate based on the weekly status gives the average weekly
picture during the survey year and includes both chronic unemployment and also the intermittent unemployment, of those
categorized as usually unemployed, caused by seasonal fluctuations in the labour market. The third estimate based on the
daily status concept gives average level of unemployment on a day during the survey year. It is the most inclusive rate of
‘unemployment’ capturing the unemployed days of the chronically unemployed, the unemployed days of the usually employed
who become intermittently unemployed during the reference week, and the unemployed days of those classified as employed
according to the priority criterion of current weekly status.
1NSSO Report No. 409: Employment and Unemployment in India 1993–94: NSS 50th Round; Chapter 7.
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 65
4.8. Despite these positive features, it must also be noted
that the labour force also grew faster in the second period.
However, the pace of growth in labour force in the second
period at 2.84% per annum exceeded the growth in the
workforce (employment) of 2.62% per annum, so that
the unemployment rate increased from 7.3% in 1999–2000
to 8.3% in 2004–05.
LONG-TERM TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT
SITUATION: 1983 THROUGH 2005
4.9. Some analysts have viewed the 1999–2000 survey
as an ‘outlier’ because of the relatively depressed
employment situation in that year, and have commented
that 1999–2000 was a case of low statistical base, which
shows up as high growth of employment in the next
period 2000–05. On this view, a better assessment
of trends emerges if we compare developments over
two relatively longer periods, that is, 1983 to 1993–94
(period I–10.5 years) and 1993–94 to 2004–05 (period
II–11 years).
4.10. Table 4.1 presents a comparison of the trends in
employment and labour force over a longer period. It is
evident that population growth decelerated in Period II
as compared with Period I and this led to a deceleration
in labour force growth also. However, the growth of the
workforce, that is, total employment, also decelerated
in Period II. Employment grew more slowly than the
labour force in Period II which raised the unemployment
rate from 6.1% in 1993–94 to 8.3% in 2004–05. Measured
in absolute terms, the average annual increase in
employment opportunities during Period II was 6.45
million, which is lower than the annual increase of 7.09
million in Period I.
4.11. The inadequate increase in aggregate employment
in Period II is associated with a sharp drop in the pace
of creation of work opportunities in agriculture. Agriculture
should not be expected to create additional
employment but, rather, to reduce the extent of underemployment
and thereby increase incomes and wages
(current daily status basis)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 1999–2000 1983 1993–94
to to to to
1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 2004–05
(’000 person years) (% per annum)
All India
Population 718101 893676 1005046 1092830 1.98 1.69 2.11 1.85
Labour Force 263824 334197 364878 419647 1.47 2.84 2.28 2.09
Workforce 239489 313931 338194 384909 1.25 2.62 2.61 1.87
Unemployment Rate (%) 9.22 6.06 7.31 8.28
No. of Unemployed 24335 20266 26684 34738 4.69 5.42 –1.73 5.02
Rural
Population 546642 658771 728069 779821 1.68 1.38 1.79 1.55
Labour Force 206152 252955 270606 303172 1.13 2.3 1.97 1.66
Workforce 187899 238752 251222 278076 0.85 2.05 2.31 1.40
Unemployment Rate (%) 8.85 5.61 7.16 8.28
No. of Unemployed 18253 14203 19383 25097 5.32 5.3 –2.36 5.31
Urban
Population 171459 234905 276977 313009 2.78 2.48 3.04 2.64
Labour Force 57672 81242 94272 116474 2.51 4.32 3.32 3.33
Workforce 51590 75179 86972 106833 2.46 4.2 3.65 3.25
Unemployment Rate (%) 10.55 7.46 7.74 8.28
No. of Unemployed 6082 6063 7300 9641 3.14 5.72 –0.03 4.31
Note: Estimates both on UPSS basis and CDS basis are given in Annexure 4.1.
TABLE 4.1
Past and Present Scenario on Employment and Unemployment
66 Eleventh Five Year Plan
of those employed in agriculture while surplus labour
shifts to the non-agriculture sector. However, the
increase in employment in the non-agricultural sectors
was disappointing.
4.12. As shown in Table 4.2, the dependence of the workforce
on agriculture and allied sectors declined from 61%
in 1993–94 to 52% in 2004–05, that is, a decline of
9 percentage points as compared with a decline of only
4 percentage points in the period 1983 to 1993–94. Thus,
work opportunities diversified away from agriculture at a
faster pace during the latter period 1993–94 to 2004–05.
4.13. Table 4.3 shows the annual increase in the work-force
by category of employment in Period I compared with
Period II. There has been a sustained increase in employment
opportunities since 1993–94, although at a slower
rate than in the earlier period. A notable feature is the sharp
increase in the number of jobs created at regular salaried
wage—from 0.98 million per year in Period I to 1.68
million per year in Period II. This is a direct consequence
of the step-up in the expansion of the manufacturing and
services sectors, as already discussed. However, the pace of
opening up of employment opportunities for casual wage
labour getting released from the agriculture sector has
slowed down sharply in Period II. The annual increase
in this category was 2.40 million in Period I but which
declined to 0.54 million in Period II (Table 4.3), mainly
reflecting the lower absorption in agriculture which was
not offset by an expansion in other sectors.
(CDS basis) (million)
Category of Employment 1983 to 1993–94 1993–94 to 2004–05
Self-employed 3.71 4.23
(52.39) (65.57)
Salaried wage 0.98 1.68
(13.83) (26.02)
Casual wage 2.40 0.54
(33.78) (8.41)
Workforce 7.09 6.45
(100.00) (100.00)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentages.
Source: Derived from data in Annexure 4.3(C).
TABLE 4.3
Annual Increase in Workforce by
Category of Employment
(CDS basis) (%)
Industry 1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 2006–07
Agriculture 65.42 61.03 56.64 52.06 50.19
Mining and Quarrying 0.66 0.78 0.67 0.63 0.61
Manufacturing 11.27 11.10 12.13 12.90 13.33
Electricity, water, etc. 0.34 0.41 0.34 0.35 0.33
Construction 2.56 3.63 4.44 5.57 6.10
Trade, hotel, and restaurant 6.98 8.26 11.20 12.62 13.18
Transport, storage, and comm. 2.88 3.22 4.06 4.61 5.06
Financial, insurance, real estate, and business services 0.78 1.08 1.36 2.00 2.22
Community, social, and personal services 9.10 10.50 9.16 9.24 8.97
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Note: *Projected.
TABLE 4.2
Sector-wise Share of Employment by Current Daily Status
SECTOR-WISE EMPLOYMENT GENERATION
ACHIEVED IN THE TENTH PLAN
4.14. Though the aggregate employment generation of
47 million work opportunities in the period 1999–2000
to 2004–05 was fairly close to the target of 50 million
employment opportunities for the Tenth Plan, the
performance across sectors has varied (see Table 4.4).
4.15. The achievement with respect to employment creation
was short of the Tenth Plan target in the agriculture sector
by 0.6 million persons (8.84 million increase against a
target of 9.47 million). The increase in the manufacturing
sector was short by 3 million persons (8.64 million increase
against a target of 11.62 million); in trade, hotel, and
restaurants by 0.53 million (10.70 million against a target
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 67
of 11.23 million); and in transport and communication
by 1.47 million (4.04 million against a target of 5.51
million). In contrast, the construction, financial services,
and community, social and personal services sectors
exceeded the Tenth plan target of employment. In
proportional terms, the largest shortfall in employment
generation has been in manufacturing.
INFORMALIZATION OF EMPLOYMENT
4.16. A critical issue in assessing employment behaviour
of the economy is the growth of employment in the
organized sector vis-à-vis the unorganized sector. Public
debate on this issue is usually conducted on the basis that
unorganized sector employment is generally of low quality
while organized sector employment is of high quality, and
the focus of attention is on whether employment has
increased in the organized sector. The inadequacy of growth
in the organized sector has traditionally been illustrated
using data on employment by units registered with the
Directorate General of Employment and Training, which
are typically large units in the organized sector. These data
are presented in Table 4.5 below and they clearly show that
whereas organized sector employment increased at the
annual rate of 1.2% per year in the period 1983–1994, it
actually declined at 0.3% per year in the period after 1994.
This decline is shown to occur primarily on account of a
decline in employment in public sector units. Employment
growth in the private sector units has accelerated in the
second period but the acceleration is clearly insufficient
to offset the decline in public sector employment.
4.17. This issue can be explored further on the basis of
data from the NSS employment surveys in 1999–2000
and 2004–05 which distinguish individuals according to
type of establishment and also type of labour conditions.
Data for the 61st Round3 is presented in Annexures 4.4
(CDS basis)
Sector Incremental Employment (million)
Target Achievement Achievement Projected
(2002–07) (2000–05) (1994–2005) (2007–12)
(5 years) (5 years) (11 years) (5 years)
Agriculture 9.47 8.84 8.82 0.00
Mining and Quarrying –0.2 0.17 0.00 0.00
Manufacturing 11.62 8.64 14.84 11.94
Electricity, water, etc. –0.21 0.18 0.00 0.02
Construction 6.3 6.44 10.05 11.92
Trade, hotel, and restaurant 11.23 10.70 22.67 17.40
Transport, storage, and comm. 5.51 4.04 7.64 9.02
Financial, insurance., real estate, and business services 1.93 3.12 4.31 3.43
Community, social, and personal services 0.49 4.59 2.62 4.34
Total 49.00 46.72 70.98 58.07
{(a)(b)}
Notes: a Including 2.87 million contribution from special employment programmes.
b To create 50 million opportunities, the Tenth Plan envisaged a contribution of 20 million from selective innovative programmes and policies
leading to a changed pattern of growth in favour of the labour intensive sectors, over and above 30 million through normal buoyancy from growth.
TABLE 4.4
Sector-wise Performance and Targets of Employment
(% per annum)
Sector 1983–1994 1994–2005
Public Sector 1.53 –0.70
Private Sector 0.44 0.58
Total Organized 1.20 –0.31
TABLE 4.5
Growth in Organized Employment
3Wage workers among the household members who answered NSSO
questions in the 61st Round (2004–05) were asked as to whether the
employers provide the following types of benefits to them, and also
the method of receiving payment:
68 Eleventh Five Year Plan
and 4.5. The design of enquiry in the two rounds was
not identical, and in the 55th Round it was restricted only
to the receipt of PF benefits by employees.4
4.18. Using this data it is possible to obtain a broad picture
of employment growth in three categories of establishments,
that is, private establishments hiring less than 10 workers,
private establishments hiring 10 workers or more, and public
sector establishments. Within each category, one can
distinguish between regular employees, casual employees,
and self-employed. Table 4.6 presents data for the set of
employees other than those engaged in crop agriculture.
(i) Benefits eligible for:
1. Only PF/pension (that is, GPF, CPF, PPF, pension, etc.)
2. Only gratuity
3. Only health care and maternity benefits
4. Only PF/pension and gratuity
5. Only PF/pension and health care and maternity benefits
6. Only gratuity and health care and maternity benefits
7. PF/pension, gratuity, health care, and maternity benefits
8. Not eligible for any of above social security benefits
(ii) Method of payment received by the wage workers:
1. Regular monthly salary
2. Regular weekly payment
3. Daily payment
4. Piece rate payment
5. Others
4In the 55th Round (1999–2000), all the usual status workers (note
here ‘all’ includes self-employed workers, too) were asked whether they
had the benefit of:
Employment Status by Ownership 1999–2000 2004–05 Increase/Decrease Increase/Decrease
and by Workers’ Size of Enterprise (absolute) (%)
(thousands)
I. Regular Employees
Private < 10 24171 27446 3275 13.55
Private > 10 11225 15650 4425 39.42
Public 19760 22042 2283 11.55
Subtotal I–Regular Employees 55155 65138 9983 18.10
II. Casual Employees
Private < 10 26197 28497 2300 8.78
Private > 10 5083 8075 2992 58.86
Public 943 1102 159 16.86
Subtotal II–Casual Employees 32223 37674 5451 16.92
III Self-Employed
Private < 10 65514 81535 16021 24.45
Private > 10 1330 1998 668 50.23
Public 145 250 105 72.41
Subtotal III–Self Employed 66989 83783 16794 25.07
All Enterprises and All Employment Status
Private < 10 115882 137478 21596 18.64
Private > 10 17637 25722 8085 45.84
Public 20848 23394 2547 12.22
Total I–III 154367 186595 32228 20.88
Note: Derived from unit level data of NSS 55th round and 61st round
TABLE 4.6
Non-Agricultural Workers by Size and by Ownership of Establishment (Usual Principal Status Basis)
1. GPF
2. PPF
3. CPF
4. A combination of the above
5. None of the above
No question was asked on the method of payment to wage
workers.
4.19. The picture that emerges is the following:
• Total employment in public sector establishments
has increased by 12.2% in the period 1999–2000 to
2004–05.
• Total employment in private sector establishments
hiring less than 10 workers has increased by 18.6% in
the same period.
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 69
• Total employment in private sector establishments
hiring more than 10 workers has increased by as much
as 45.8%!
4.20. If we treat employment in establishments hiring
more than 10 workers as a measure of organized sector
employment, the increase in organized sector employment
in the private sector is more than the increase in the
private unorganized sector.
4.21. If we limit our focus on regular employees in the
larger private sector units, this category shows growth of
39.42%. However, the growth of casual employees in the
larger private sector units was even faster at 58.9%.
4.22. The above conclusions emerge from unit level data
of the NSS surveys focusing on the distinction between
regular and casual employees. However some so-called
regular employees do not have the benefits of social security.
It is also possible to define organized employment more
tightly to limit it to employees who receive provident
fund and social security benefits. This has been done by
the National Commission for Employment in the
Unorganized Sector (NCEUS). As per NCEUS estimates,
20.46 million of the 54.12 million employees working in
the organized sector in 1999–2000, were unorganized
workers, and the remaining 33.67 million were organized.
During the next five-year period, that is, 2000–05, while
the number of organized workers by this definition
remained constant, the number of unorganized workers
in organized enterprises increased by 8.68 million to 29.14
million (Table 4.7).
4.23. The NCEUS data does not correspond with those
in Table 4.6 since they include all of agriculture workers
in the unorganized sector. Of the total increase in
employment of 61 million on a Usual Principal and
Subsidiary Status (UPSS) basis, the increase in the
unorganized sector is 52 million and the increase in the
organized sector is 9 million. However, while total
employment in the organized sector has increased over
the period, the increase is entirely on account of what is
classified as informal employment in the organized sector,
that is, workers who do not have the benefit of provident
fund and social security. Whereas employment of this
category expanded by over 42%, employment categorized
as formal was more or less stagnant.
4.24. To summarize, the recent experience with
employment growth presents a mixed picture. If we focus
on the most recent period, 1999–2000 to 2004–05, there
appears to be an acceleration in employment growth
compared with the preceding period which is consistent
with expectations, given the acceleration in GDP growth.
However, looking at longer term trends, this acceleration
in employment growth disappears and in any case the
rate of unemployment has increased throughout. Concerns
about the quality of employment appear valid although
different sources of data are not easily reconciled.
However, it does appear that total employment provided
by the organized sector has expanded in the period 1999–
2000 to 2004–05 and this is entirely because of the growth
of informal employment in the organized sector.
4.25. These trends highlight the major challenges
of employment in the Eleventh Plan which can be
summarized as follows:
• How to ensure faster growth in employment than in
the labour force so as to reduce unemployment.
Sector 1999–2000 2004–2005
Informal Formal Total Informal Formal Total
Unorganized Sector 341.28 1.36 342.64 393.47 1.43 394.90
(99.60) (0.40) (100) (99.64) (0.36) (100)
Organized Sector 20.46 33.67 54.12 29.14 33.42 62.57
(37.80) (62.20) (100) (46.58) (53.42) (100)
Total: 361.74 35.02 396.76 422.61 34.85 457.46
(91.17) (8.83) (100) (92.38) (7.46) (100)
Notes: 1. UPSS basis.
2. Figures in bracket indicate percentages.
Source: Estimates by NCEUS.
TABLE 4.7
Distribution of Workers by Type of Employment and Sector
(million)
70 Eleventh Five Year Plan
• How to ensure faster growth in the organized sector
than the unorganized sector so that the share of
organized sector employment increases.
• How to ensure growth in formal employment in the
organized sector and not just the informal employment.
UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG THE YOUNG
AND EDUCATED
4.26. Unemployment is typically higher among the
youth and the educated who look for better quality
of jobs, and this phenomenon is illustrated in Tables
4.8 and 4.9. Table 4.8 shows that unemployment
(%) (CDS basis)
Year Rural Areas Urban Areas
Male Female Male Female
1993–94 9.0 7.6 13.7 21.2
1999–2000 11.1 10.6 14.7 19.1
2004–05 12.0 12.7 13.7 21.5
Source: NSSO Report No. 515(61/10/1)
TABLE 4.8
Unemployment Rate among Youth
(Age Group 15–29 Years)
General Level of Rural male Rural female Urban male Urban female
Education 1993– 1999– 2004– 1993– 1999– 2004– 1993– 1999– 2004– 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Not literate 1.8 3.0 2.7 2.2 2.7 2.5 2.2 3.1 2.8 2.2 2.0 2.5
Literate and up 1.9 3.0 3.0 2.6 2.6 3.1 3.5 4.1 3.7 4.8 3.6 4.0
to primary
Secondary 8.3 7.3 6.5 19.8 16.9 18.2 7.0 6.9 6.2 19.6 15.8 17.9
and above
ALL 3.1 3.9 3.8 2.9 3.7 4.2 5.2 5.6 5.2 7.9 7.3 9.0
Source: NSSO Report No. 515(61/10/1).
TABLE 4.9
Unemployment Rates for Persons of Age 15 Years and above by Level of Education on
Current Weekly Status (CWS) Basis
(%)
among the age group 15–29 years for both males and
females and in urban and rural areas is significantly higher
than the average level of unemployment of all persons.
4.27. CDS measure has been used for analysis of trends in
workforce, in keeping with the practice followed in the
Tenth Five Year Plan. However this, being a person days
measure (that is, a time-based measure), is not amenable,
straightaway, to study of person-specific characteristics
of the workers. Current weekly and the us measures
study the activity status of a person over the reference
period (week or the year) (CWS, UPSS, and UPS) and
are therefore amenable to study of person-specific
characteristics. Hence, in presenting the person-specific
features of employed or unemployed persons Current
Weekly Status (CWS) or the UPSS measures have
been used.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION AMONG THE
VULNERABLE GROUPS
4.28. It is useful to distinguish between several different
groups who face special difficulties in employment.
(i) Agricultural Labour Households and Casual
Labour in Rural Areas
4.29. Out of 460 million workers (UPSS), 94 million
earn so little that they are below the poverty line.
And if that is the lot of employed workers, the lot of
the poor who are unemployed in the labour force
must be worse, which is a cause of concern to the
planning process.
4.30. The proportion of poor among the workers in the
rural areas decreased from 25.2% in 1999–2000 to 20.3%
in 2004–05. In urban areas, the incidence of poverty
among the workers decreased from 22.29% to 21.22%.
Though there is a net decrease by 3.5 million in the
number of poor workers during 2000–05, the magnitude
of poor workers at 94.3 million in 2004–05 remains
very high. The incidence of poverty among the regular
wage/salaried workers is much lower (around 11%) as
compared to the casual labour (32%) and the selfemployed
workers (17%). This suggests that all efforts
should be made to increase the regular wage/salaried jobs.
(Annexure 4.7).
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 71
4.31. Unemployment among the rural agriculture labour
households, which is the single largest segment of the
poor labour households, is now 15.3% (Table 4.10). It is
possible to infer that the magnitude of poverty among
them may have remained the same or even increased.
4.32. There has been a slight deceleration in the growth
in wages of rural male casual agricultural labour from
2.75% per annum during 1983–94 to 2.18% per annum
during 1994–2005. The fall in the case of females is more
steep, from 3.07% per annum to 2.10% per annum
(Annexure 4.6).
(ii) Weaker Social Groups: The Scheduled
Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)
4.33. Table 4.11 gives the unemployment rates among
SCs vis-à-vis others (excluding SC, ST and OBC) from
National Sample Surveys from 1983 (38th Round) to
2004–05 (61st Round). It is pertinent to mention here
that for 1983 (38th Round) and 1993–94 (50th Round),
there was no separate category of OBC and therefore the
category ‘others’ included OBC also in these two rounds.
It may be seen that between 1999–2000 and 2004–05,
the unemployment rates for females, SCs as well as others,
in both rural and urban areas have increased; by 0.8
percentage point in rural areas and 1.5 percentage point
in urban areas. For urban males, unemployment among
SCs increased by 0.4 percentage point, whereas among
others it declined by 0.8 percentage point during 1999–
2000 to 2004–05.
4.34. Table 4.12 presents a comparative picture of
unemployment among STs and Others; so far as rural
males are concerned, there is no change in unemployment
rates between 1999–2000 and 2004–05 for SCs; but for
others, the unemployment rate has declined slightly.
On the other hand, during the same periods, the
unemployment rate for females in rural areas has
declined for SCs, and for Others it has increased by 0.8
(%)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05
Rural Areas
Male 1.2 (1.4) 1.2 (1.4) 1.8 (1.8) 1.7 (1.6
Female 0.5 (0.7) 0.4 (0.8) 0.6 (1.0) 1.4 (1.8)
Urban Areas
Male 5.1 (0.7) 4.6 (4.0) 5.1 (4.6) 5.5 (3.8)
Female 2.9 (4.9) 4.4 (6.2) 3.1 (5.4) 4.6 (6.9)
Note: 1CDS measure has been used for analysis of trends in the work-force, in
keeping with the practice followed in the Tenth Five Year Plan. However, this,
being a person days measure (that is, a time based measure), is not amenable,
straightaway, to the study of person-specific characteristics of the workers.
Current weekly and the us measures study the activity status of a person over the
reference period (week or the year) (CWS, UPSS, and UPS) and are therefore
amenable to the study of person-specific characteristics. Hence, in presenting
the person-specific features of employed or unemployed persons, CWS or the
UPSS measures have been used.
2CDS estimates are not available from NSS reports. Therefore, UPSS estimates are
given in this Table. However it should be noted that these are under-estimates of
unemployment because CDS measure is the most comprehensive measure of
unemployment and CDS estimates are significantly higher than UPSS estimates.
3Figures in parentheses are the corresponding unemployment rates for others
(excluding SC, ST, and OBC).
Source: Report No. 516 (61/10/2), Employment and Unemployment Situation
among Social Groups in India, 2004–05.
TABLE 4.11
Unemployment Rate according to Usual Status
(ps+ss)1,2,3 for Scheduled Castes during 1983 to 2004–05
(CDS basis)
Year Unemployment Rate (%)
1983 7.73
1993–94 9.50
1999–2000 12.29
2004–05 15.26
TABLE 4.10
Incidence of Unemployment among
Rural Agricultural Households
(%)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05
Rural Areas
Male 0.5 (1.4) 0.8 (1.4) 1.1 (1.8) 1.1 (1.6)
Female 0.1 (0.7) 0.3 (0.8) 0.5 (1.0) 0.4 (1.8)
Urban Areas
Male 4.3 (0.7) 4.7 (4.0) 4.4 (4.6) 2.9 (3.8)
Female 1.5 (4.9) 1.7 (6.2) 2.8 (5.4) 3.4 (6.9)
Note: 1CDS measure has been used for analysis of trends in the work-force, in
keeping with the practice followed in the Tenth Five Year Plan. However, this,
being a person days measure (that is, a time based measure), is not amenable,
straightaway, to the study of person-specific characteristics of the workers.
Current weekly and the us measures study the activity status of a person over the
reference period (week or the year) (CWS, UPSS, and UPS) and are therefore
amenable to the study of person-specific characteristics. Hence, in presenting
the person-specific features of employed or unemployed persons, CWS or the
UPSS measures have been used.
2CDS estimates are not available from NSS reports. Therefore, UPSS estimates are
given in this Table. However it should be noted that these are under-estimates of
unemployment because CDS measure is the most comprehensive measure of
unemployment and CDS estimates are significantly higher than UPSS estimates.
3Figures in parentheses are the corresponding unemployment rates for others
(excluding SC, ST, and OBC).
Source: Report No. 516 (61/10/2), Employment and Unemployment Situation
among Social Groups in India, 2004–05.
TABLE 4.12
Unemployment Rate according to Usual Status
(ps+ss)1,2,3 for Scheduled Tribes during 1983 to 2004–05
72 Eleventh Five Year Plan
percentage point. In urban areas, the unemployment
rate for males in both categories, namely SCs and Others
has declined, but for females it has increased.
(iii) The Children at Work
4.35. Estimates from the 61st Round reveal that 5.82
million children (age 5–14 years) work; 1.136 million in
urban areas and 4.682 million in rural areas (Table 4.13).
Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), also, has
a responsibility with regard to the development of
adolescent girls and thus keeping them away from
wage employment.
4.38. The focus of efforts to eradicate child labour has
to be location specific, confined to those pockets where
employers are prone to be exploitative in accessing the
cheapest cost labour. High per-capita income locations
(metro towns, in particular), destinations of migrant
worker families and ‘industrial belts’, where informal
work relationships for labour-intensive occupations
thrive, have therefore to be closely monitored through
innovative mechanisms that provide intelligence to the
enforcement agencies.
4.39. Any expansion of the Child Labour Eradication
Plan has to be made only after a careful evaluation of the
existing scheme with regard to:
• Its effectiveness in dovetailing SSA and ICDS;
• The ability to involve State administrations which
implement the CSS pertaining to the development,
education, nutrition, and protection of children;
• A purely Central Plan funded effort should be in the
nature of an emergent action over a limited duration
at the location, where the local administration are, by
ignorance or by design, seem to be aiding the use of
cheap child labour for serving the profit motive of the
citizens at that location.
• A suitable form of penalization should be imposed in
such local and State Governments that seem to be
paying only ‘lip service’ to curb the problem of the
use of ‘cheap cost child labour’.
(iv) Women Workers
4.40. Women comprise 48.3% of the population but have
only 26.1% share in the persons employed. This is
presently because their share is in the labour force is only
26.4% (Table 4.14). The female labour force participation
rates (LFPR) across all age groups are 25 to 30% of the
male LFPR in urban areas, and 35 to 40% of male LFPR
in the rural areas.
4.41. Along with lower participation rates, women
face a higher incidence of unemployment than men.
This is especially so for higher levels of education. While
the unemployment rates between men and women
(’000)
Heads 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Labour Force 9919 1552 7792 1447 5182 1292
Workforce 9441 1442 7203 1320 4682 1136
Unemployed 479 110 589 127 501 156
Unemployment 4.83 7.08 7.56 8.78 9.66 12.08
Rate (%)
TABLE 4.13
Estimated Number of Children (5–14 Years)
in the Labour Force, Workforce, and Unemployed—
All India (CDS Basis)
4.36. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986 prohibits employment of children below 14 years in
hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the
working conditions in other employments. Compliance
with the provisions of this Act is the responsibility
of Labour Sector of the Plan (Ministry of Labour
and Employment). At present, the laws do not prohibit
employment of children in non-hazardous occupations
but children so employed must have access to education.
Against this background, the Eleventh Plan Working
Group on Child Labour has estimated that 3.643 million
children (5–14 years) were working in the nonagricultural
sector, out of which 1.219 million children
were engaged in hazardous occupations. Chapter 6
(Volume II) Towards Women’s Agency and Child Rights
gives the comprehensive approach to deal with the problem
of children at work and exposed to other risks.
4.37. The education sector has a pre-eminent role in
ensuring that all children in the age group 9–14 years are
at school. To the extent this goal of SSA can be ensured
(now that there is a fourfold increase, at constant price,
in the Eleventh Plan over the Tenth Plan, duly backed
by scheme-tied revenue through a Cess), the tendency
to utilize child labour at a cheap cost to increase profits
from making children work, can be curbed. The
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 73
do not differ much up to the primary level of schooling,
unemployment among women educated up to the
secondary and higher levels is much higher than among
men. In the urban areas, unemployment among young
women in the 15–29 years age group is much higher than
for men, and is highest among young urban women in
the 20–24 years age group where one among every four
girls seeking work cannot find it. They are in a especially
vulnerable position when they seek entry into the regular
wage jobs in the unorganized or even in the private organized
sector, in urban areas. This has many implications for our
labour policy, particularly the gender sensitive regulations,
the social policies and programmes that are designed to
promote ‘equality’ at work.
4.42. A measure of ‘underemployment’ is the change
in activity status of the persons employed, when the
reference period for the study of time disposition is
reduced from one year (the us measure) to an average
day of the past week (CDS measure). Only 66% of rural
women who are counted as employed on the US measure,
are seen as employed on the CDS measure, whereas the
corresponding proportion for men is higher at 89% (NSS
Report No. 515 (61/10/1) (Part I) (September 2006)
(Statement 7.2.1). The deceleration in wage rates of casual
labour in agriculture between the periods 1994–2000 and
2000–05 has been higher for women (2.93% per annum
to 0.93% per annum) than for men (2.79% to 1.21%).
Participation in education by girls (15–19 years) in rural
areas is only 33% (as compared to 47% for men), and
the gender disparity increases sharply in the next age
group, that is, 20–24 years. Only 1.3% of young women
(15–29 years) in rural areas received formal vocational
training. Such features of the labour market for women
are reflected in the fact that as much as 21.7% of
employed women have consumption levels below poverty
line in 2004–05, that is, they are employed yet still
poor. This proportion is lower among men—19.9%.
(Annexure 4.7).
4.43. The principal reasons for low participation by
women in the labour force are:
(CDS basis)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 1999–2000 1983 1993–94
to to to to
1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 2004–05
(’000 person years) (% per annum)
All India
Population 718101 893676 1005046 1092830 1.98 1.69 2.11 1.85
Labour Force 263824 334197 364878 419647 1.47 2.84 2.28 2.09
Workforce 239489 313931 338194 384909 1.25 2.62 2.61 1.87
Unemployment Rate (%) 9.22 6.06 7.31 8.28
No. of Unemployed 24335 20266 26684 34738 4.69 5.42 –1.73 5.02
Female
Population 346546 430188 484837 527355 2.01 1.70 2.08 1.87
Labour Force 68011 86728 92859 110886 1.14 3.61 2.34 2.26
Workforce 61218 81151 85952 100491 0.96 3.18 2.72 1.96
Unemployment Rate (%) 9.99 6.43 7.44 9.37
No. of Unemployed 6793 5578 6907 10395 3.63 8.52 –1.86 5.82
Male
Population 371556 463488 520209 565475 1.94 1.68 2.13 1.82
Labour Force 195813 247468 272019 308761 1.59 2.57 2.25 2.03
Workforce 178270 232780 252242 284417 1.35 2.43 2.57 1.84
Unemployment Rate (%) 8.96 5.94 7.27 7.88
No. of Unemployed 17542 14688 19777 24343 5.08 4.24 –1.68 4.70
TABLE 4.14
Past and Present Macro Scenario on Employment and Unemployment—Male and Female
74 Eleventh Five Year Plan
• Wage rates of women are lower than of male for
comparable occupations.
• Women are denied access to certain occupations,
though they may be capable of doing that work as well
as the men.
• Skill development of women is not uniform across all
trades; participation by them remains confined to a
few labour-intensive occupations such as stitching,
teachers training, etc., which forces a majority of the
women to enter the labour market as unskilled labour.
4.44. Whenever equal opportunity has been given to
women in recruitments, equality in wage with the men
has been ensured, and an equal exposure in training has
been given, the participation by women in work has
improved. This is illustrated in ample measure in the
IT and enabled services sectors and in various other
professional services—legal, financial, commercial,
education and health.
4.45. In order to promote gender equity, steps have to
be taken to increase women’s participation in the labour
force. This has to be pursued through skill development,
labour policies and also the social security framework.
Significant outcomes can be expected only if the gender
issue is addressed through the planning initiatives across
all the ‘heads of development’ in the Plan, with requisite
lead from the ‘Women and Child Development’ Head.
Gender-budgeting has not, so far, received due attention.
4.46. The Eleventh Plan must seek to reduce the gender
differentials by pursuing (i) target shares for women
beneficiaries in the programmes for ‘Skill Development
initiatives’, ‘New initiatives at Social Security’, implementation
of regulations such as the Apprentices Act, 1961, the
Factories Act, the Building and Construction Workers
(Conditions of Service) Act, and better implementation
of The Maternity Benefit Act, 1976 and The Equal
Remuneration Act, 2000, and for guarding against sexual
harassment at the work place.
(v) Migrant Workers
4.47. Inter-State population migration rates for the intercensus
period (1991–2001) are given in Annexure 4.8. The
net out-migrant and in-migrant States are presented in
this Annexure. Large absorbers of migrants are the States
of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Goa. The large net out-migrant States are
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal,
Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,
and Tamil Nadu. Implicit in these population movements
is an origin-destination migration matrix of workers. The
numbers shown in the Annexure are inter-decadal and
are presumably much smaller than the shorter period
movements of migrant workers.
4.48. Migration itself is not an abnormal phenomenon
and is common all over the world since growth centres
which generate demand for labour often tend to
concentrate in certain areas. However, migrant workers
are the most vulnerable and exploited among the informal
sector workers, and have not received any attention in
the labour policy. In the States which are sources (origin)
of supply of migrant workers—and most of them migrate
to take up some labour-intensive, low-wage occupation—
an effective and large-scale effort for vocational training
in the labour intensive occupations is required. And such
a programme should be amenable to the special needs of
the entrants to informal labour markets. In the destination
States, the focus of public policy (including Labour
Policy) should be to improve the conditions under which
the bulk of these in-migrants live and work. And in so
far as the destination locations fail to provide certain basic
minimum conditions to the new in-migrants, it would be
better to restrain economic growth at such locations. In
the labour and employment sector, better implementation
of certain legislations pertaining to unorganized workers
can protect the interests of most of the migrant workers;
for example, the Building and Other Construction Workers
(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service)
Act, 1976; the Building and Other Construction Workers
(Cess) Act, 1976; the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923
and the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. An initiative has been
taken recently by the government (in September 2007)
with the introduction of ‘The Unorganized Workers’
Social Security Bill, 2007’ in the Rajya Sabha.
(vi) The Self-employed and Casual
Wage Employed
4.49. The self-employed and casual wage employed
account for 83% of the workforce. About 20–25 million
enter the labour force each year. Thus 17–21 million
will enter the labour market in the non-regular wage
employed category. The only strength of the self and the
casual employed is their occupational skill, and the
entrepreneurial skill to negotiate the price of labour put
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 75
in by them. At present, a majority of the new entrants in
this category have little or no education, not to speak of
any vocational training. And many of them migrate to
new locations, and to new occupations other than their
traditional ones. The skill development set up of the
government(s) has practically no space for them, at
present. The National Skills Mission, discussed in the
Chapter 5 on Skill Development and Training could make
a major difference by upgrading the skills of new entrants
to the informal sector.
EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS FOR THE
ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH PLANS
4.50. The Approach Paper for the Eleventh Plan had
projected an addition of 52 million to labour force in the
Plan period and had called for the creation of 70 million
employment opportunities. However, the projections of
labour growth have been revisited in view of the latest
population projections made available by the National
Commission on Population and work done by the Eleventh
Plan Working Group on Labour Force and Employment
Projections. The projected increase in labour force during
the Eleventh Plan period is now estimated at 45 million.
4.51. The employment prospects in the Eleventh Plan
period have also been revised and the results are presented
in Tables 4.15(A) and (B) with projections of labour force
and employment over a longer period, 2006–07 to 2016–
17, encompassing both the Eleventh and the Twelfth Plans.
4.52. As shown in Table 4.15(B), population growth is
expected to decelerate through this period with a
corresponding deceleration in labour force growth to
1.6% per year. However, although the labour force growth
is projected to decelerate, the absolute increase in the labour
force is very large. In fact, India’s demographic profile is
(’000)
Basis 1993–94* 2004–05* 2006–07 2011–12 2016–17
Population (age 0+) 893676 1092830 1128313 1207971 1283242
Population (age 15–59) 501760 652940 687120 760110 820570
Labour Force UPSS 378650 471250 492660 541840 586440
Labour Force CDS 334197 419647 438948 483659 524057
Employment Opportunities CDS 313931 384909 402238 460310 51820
Unemployed (’000) CDS 20266 34738 36710 23348 5853
Unemployment Rate (%) CDS 6.06 8.28 8.36 4.83 1.12
Note: * Actual estimates derived from NSS.
TABLE 4.15(A)
Population, Labour Force, Employment Projections
Growth rates (% per annum) and absolute increase (’000)
Basis 1993–94 to 2004–05 to 2006–07 to 2011–12 to
2004–05* 2006–07 2011–12 2016–17
Growth Rate in Population (age 0+) 1.85 1.43 1.37 1.22
Growth Rate in Population (age 15–59) 2.42 2.29 2.04 1.54
Growth Rate in Labour Force UPSS 2.01 1.99 1.92 1.59
Growth Rate in Labour Force CDS 2.09 2.02 1.96 1.62
Growth Rate in Employment Opportunities CDS 1.87 1.98 2.73 2.40
Addition to Population (’000) UPSS 199154 35483 79658 75271
Addition to Labour Force (’000) UPSS 92600 21410 49180 44600
Addition to Labour Force (’000) CDS 85450 19301 44711 40398
Addition to Employment Opportunities (’000) CDS 70978 17330 58072 57893
Note: * Actual estimates derived from NSS.
TABLE 4.15(B)
Projected Population, Labour Force, and Employment in Different Periods
76 Eleventh Five Year Plan
such that the expansion in the labour force in India will
be larger than in the industrialized countries, and even
China. As discussed in Chapter 5, the demographic
dividend could be a source of global competitive advantage
if it is combined with successful efforts at skill upgradation
and at expansion of employment opportunities.
4.53. The growth of total employment over the period has
been estimated on the basis of employment projections
for individual sectors which are then aggregated. These
sectoral employment projections are based on sectoral
GDP growth rates combined with assumptions about
employment elasticity moderated by the implicit growth
of productivity (see Annexure 4.2). The resulting
projections indicate that 58 million job opportunities will
be created in the Eleventh Plan period which exceeds the
projected addition to the labour force, leading to a
reduction in the unemployment rate to below 5%.
4.54. Over the longer period up to 2016–17, spanning
the Eleventh and Twelfth Plan periods, the additional
employment opportunities created are estimated at 116
million as compared to 71 million during the 11-year
period from 1993–94 to 2004–05 (Table 4.16). Since the
labour force will increase by 85 million in this period, a
substantial part of the surplus of labour force that exists
at the commencement of the Eleventh Plan could get
absorbed into gainful employment by the end of the
period. The unemployment rate at the end of the Twelfth
Plan period is projected to fall to a little over 1%.
4.55. There are important qualifications to these
projections which must be kept in mind, arising from
the limitation of employment elasticity as a projection
tool. The concept of employment elasticity is at best a
mechanical device to project employment on the basis of
projected growth of output and past relationships between
employment and output. These relationships can change
as a result of changing technology and change in real
wages. The labour force participation rate is also subject
to changes, especially because of possible changes in
female participation rates in urban areas associated with
advances in women’s education. For all these reasons, the
projected decline in the unemployment rate must be
treated with caution. It could well be that the projected
increase in labour demand induces greater labour supply
through an increase in participation rates and also higher
wages which moderate demand. However, the overall
picture of an acceleration in the rate of creation of job
opportunities and a reduction in unemployment rates is
relatively robust, if GDP growth takes place as projected.
SECTORAL EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS
4.56. The projected growth of employment in the Eleventh
Plan and beyond is decomposed into its sectoral components
in Table 4.16.
AGRICULTURE EMPLOYMENT
4.57. The agriculture sector has long been known to be
characterized by underemployment, which means that
with the same number of workers it is possible to generate
(CDS) (’000)
Industry Estimated Projected
1983 to 1993–94 to 2006–07 to 2006–07 to
1993–94 2004–05 2011–12 2016–17
(101/2 Years) (11 Years) (5 Years) (10 Years)
Agriculture 34900 8816 0 –3967
Mining and Quarrying 855 3 1 3
Manufacturing 7850 14834 11937 24516
Electricity, water, etc. 487 30 17 36
Construction 5260 10052 11922 26370
Trade, hotel, and restaurant 9190 22667 17397 34402
Transport, storage, and communication 3213 7639 9025 18764
Finance, insurance, real estate, and business services 1524 4312 3428 7472
Community, social, and personal services 11163 2624 4344 8369
Total 74442 70978 58072 115965
TABLE 4.16
Projected Increase in Number of Workers by Sector, 2007–12 and 2007–17
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 77
rural areas which can provide additional income for the
rural workforce by providing additional non-agricultural
employment.
EMPLOYMENT IN MANUFACTURING, CONSTRUCTION,
AND SERVICES
4.60. The Eleventh Plan should aim at significantly stepping
up growth in employment in other sectors, countering
the long-term trends observed in the past. Employment
in manufacturing should grow at 4% per annum against
the trend of growth in the preceding 11 years (1994–2005)
of 3.3% per annum. Employment in construction should
grow at 8.2% per annum against the trend of 5.9%
growth, and in the transport and communication sector
at 7.6% against the long-term trend of 5.3%.
4.61. These growth rates in employment in individual
sectors are achievable provided they are supported by
programmes for skill development, which will ensure
availability of the relevant skills without which the growth
of employment will probably choke. It is also necessary
to ensure a wider provision of social security and welfare
of unorganized workers, particularly in sectors such as
construction and transport. Initiatives for these areas are
elaborated in the Chapters on ‘Skill Development and
Training’ and ‘Nutrition and Social Safety Net’.
4.62. The sectors with prospects for high growth in
output, creation of new establishments and for creation
of new employment opportunities (direct as also
indirect) are:
Services
• IT-enabled Services
• Telecom Services
• Tourism
• Transport Services
• Health Care
• Education and Training
• Real Estate and Ownership of Dwellings
• Banking and Financial Services
• Insurance
• Retail Services
• Media and Entertainment Services
Other Sectors and Sub-Sectors
• Energy-Production, Distribution and Consumption
of Horticulture
more output. The projection for the Eleventh Plan assumes
that the projected doubling of the rate of agricultural
growth during the Eleventh Plan will be possible without
any increase in agricultural employment. Whereas
agriculture contributed 8.8 million job opportunities in
the 11-year period from 1993–94 to 2004–05, it is projected
to contribute no increase in the Eleventh Plan and a net
decrease of 4 million agricultural workers over the Twelfth
Plan period (2006–07 to 2016–17). This is a reasonable
projection considering that the number of main workers
in agriculture declined by about 1.8 crore between 1991
and 2001 and there has been a large increase in marginal
workers in agriculture during 1991–2001. Rising wage
differentials between the agriculture and non-agriculture
sectors are also very likely to shift labour out of agriculture,
and the continued growth into the Twelfth Plan period
would provide sufficient pull factor from non-agriculture
to encourage such a shift.
4.58. An alternative projection of agricultural employment
has also been made, applying the actual employment
elasticity (0.15) observed during 1993–94 to 2004–05 to
the projected growth of output over the perspective period
(2007–2017). This gives an estimate of employment in
agriculture for 2011–12, that is, about 9 million more than
in Table 4.16. In this projection there is positive growth of
employment in agriculture at 0.6% per year and
productivity growth is correspondingly lower at 3.4% per
annum. In this scenario, employment increase would be
9 million more, with unemployment correspondingly less
at only 14 million in 2011–12. However, this would be at
the cost of lower productivity growth and, therefore,
wages and incomes in agriculture and a larger proportion
of low quality jobs.
4.59. During the 11-year period 1994–2005, the pace of
increase in per worker GDP in agriculture was only 2.24%
per annum as compared to 4.35% per annum growth
in aggregate GDP per worker. (Annexure 4.2). During
the Eleventh Plan, also, the pace of productivity increase
being projected is lower for agriculture than for the
aggregate economy, irrespective of the scenario regarding
employment growth in agriculture. Since the main
employment issue in the agriculture sector is the increase
in farm labour income, and not the creation of a larger
number of employed workers, it would be appropriate
to work towards a strategy in which there is higher
growth in non-services employment opportunities in
78 Eleventh Five Year Plan
• Floriculture
• Construction of Buildings
• Infrastructure Projects Construction
Industry Groups
• Automotive
• Food Products
• Chemical Products
• Basic Metals
• Non-Metallic Mineral Products
• Plastic and Plastic Processing Industry
• Leather
• Rubber and Rubber Products
• Wood and Bamboo Products
• Gems and Jewellery
• Handicrafts
• Handlooms
• Khadi and Village Industries
The Services Sector
4.63. The services sector is currently the fastest growing
sector of the economy, and employment growth in the
sector has remained more than 5% per annum since
the 1990s as compared with the aggregate employment
growth at less than 2%. This sector has the unique
opportunity to grow due to its labour cost advantage,
reflecting one of the lowest salary and wage levels in the
world coupled with a rising share of working age
population. However, two types of initiatives are required:
(i) fostering the establishment of a viable size for delivery
of services based on labour intensive occupations. Only
in establishments of a reasonable size (in contrast to the
average enterprise size of 1.2 workers, as it exists today),
with a reasonable level of occupational specialization
and corresponding productivity and wage levels, is this
feasible; and (ii) a massive skill development effort, as
discussed later, for vocational training of the new entrants
to the labour force.
4.64. Planning initiatives in health, nutrition, care of
children, care of the aged, education, skill development
and expansion of social security services will create a large
potential for employment for delivery of these services.
Quantum jumps in the requirement of personnel, their
skill and in their composition—by gender, by social group
and by location in favour of the backward regions—will
arise from:
• A massive increase in Central funding of education
which is a four fold increase over the Tenth Plan in
constant price;
• Emphasis on the next phase of SSA on improvement
in the quality of education;
• Reaching these services to the districts having a
concentration of SC, ST, and minorities;
• Rapid expansion in the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme
to cover 60 million additional children at the upper
primary level by 2008–09; and
• Enrolling one crore children in vocational education–
skill development streams.
4.65. Already, a substantial increase in the number of
teachers has been made, which will continue further.
During the three-year period of 2002–03 to 2005–06, 0.285
million para teachers were recruited, of which 0.27 million
are in the rural areas (NUEPA; Progress Towards UEE—
Analytical Report 2005–06; Table E 20). And much of this
expansion has occurred in the low per capita income
States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan,
and Uttar Pradesh. Further, the expansion of mid-day
meals programme, will require a substantial step up in
the personnel required for delivery of such services.
4.66. The Central Government has recently announced
an expansion in social security services such as: (i) Old
age pension to all citizens, (ii) Life and disability cover
against injury or death to either the head of, or to one
earning member of each poor family; and (iii) Health
insurance, so that the poor do not have to bear a high cost
of medical care. These would require a commensurate
expansion in the requirement of a variety of professionally
trained and skilled personnel by the institutions that
(i) cover risk; (ii) identify, issue and update the identity
of the beneficiaries (smart cards); (iii) design specific
schemes for the target groups and market the same;
(iv) render medical services; or (v) reach out to the
prospective beneficiaries. Most of the beneficiaries of the
new Central initiatives would be the aged, the poor and
the landless, and thus vulnerable to vagaries of the market.
The institutional base that exists at present for delivery
of the kinds of services, discussed here, is quite insensitive
to the special needs of the prospective beneficiaries, and
breeds ‘exclusion’. While the beneficiaries could be (and
should be) expected to make a contribution, howsoever
small, to participate in the scheme, the personnel that are
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 79
hired for rendering these services have to be trained to
reach out to the prospective beneficiaries, in a manner that
is responsible and transparent, and thus evokes her/his
confidence to participate in the scheme. Moreover, some
token contribution to become a member of the scheme
is essential to empower these beneficiaries to lay a claim
to the services that especially allocated funds by the
Central Government for their benefit.
(i) EXPANSION OF IT SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS
4.67. Village kiosks will require expansion of IT personnel
deployment across the rural areas of the country, in
particular to facilitate the expansion of an IT enabled
governance set-up. Such improvements are essential for
keeping pace with the demand for public services that
will guide the diversification of the economy away from
agriculture and towards the secondary and tertiary
sectors, duly supported by: (i) investments in industrial
infrastructure, (ii) creation of institutional infrastructure
in the rural areas, and (iii) for fostering integration of
rural markets with the rest of the economy. These would
require manifold expansion in a variety of matching
services to be delivered by the local governments and by
the village Panchayats, and that would be feasible only if
the governance set-up at the local level is overhauled and
handled in an IT-friendly mode.
(ii) PERSONAL SERVICES
4.68. The increase in the income of middle-class households
in the high growth phase entails a spurt in consumption
of personal services related to attire, appearance, baby
care, health upkeep, personal drivers, security, care for the
aged dependents, household governance and management,
and so on. And such personal services have to be delivered
by professionally trained, hired personnel of formal
establishments, quite distinct from the earlier one-person
operations. But in this area, a major effort at nurturing
the right type of serving establishments at reasonable fees,
training and certification of their personnel who can earn
a reasonable income and thereby keep themselves above
exploitation by the well off and informal employers, by
way of access to the social security arrangements, is
required. So far, services of a reasonable standard have by
and large remained confined to the few who have a very
high level of personal income, leaving the average urban
consumer of such services to the vagaries of a market driven
by ‘short-life’, one or two-person establishments, thriving
on profits from cheap and untrained young in-migrants
to high-income locations. The local administrations,
including the labour administrations, have not handled
the issue in a labour–employment–income perspective,
and have generally ignored the problems arising due to
the law and order enforcement agencies.
EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR POLICY
4.69. The employment strategy for the Eleventh Plan
must ensure rapid growth of employment while also
ensuring an improvement in the quality of employment.
While self employment will remain an important
employment category in the foreseeable future—it
accounted for 58% of all employment in 2004–05—there
is need to increase the share of regular employees in total
employment. As shown in Annexure 4.3(C), this category
has increased from 17% of total employment in 1983 to
18% in 2004–05. It should be the focus of policy to
achieve a substantial increase in the share of regular
employment with a matching reduction in the share of
casual employment which at present is as high as 23%.
4.70. The above analysis implies that the success of
labour policy should be seen in terms of the number of
regular wage employment opportunities based on some
form of a written contract between the employer and the
employee, that is, an increase in the number of ‘formal’
jobs. The potential for creation of formal employment
can be fully utilized by making appropriate changes in
rules and procedures. It is often said that one of the
obstacles to growth of formal employment in the
organized sector is the prevalence of excessively rigid
labour laws which discourage such employment. Steps
that should be taken for a greater flexibility in labour
laws are discussed in the Chapter on Industry. Broadly, it
is necessary to review existing laws and regulations with
a view to making changes which would:
• encourage the corporate sector to move into more
labour-intensive sectors
• facilitate the expansion of employment and output of
the unorganized enterprises that operate in the labourintensive
sectors.
4.71. At present, the incentives and subsidies are so
designed as to strongly penalize entrepreneurs for
crossing a threshold size from a micro/small to a medium/
80 Eleventh Five Year Plan
large unit. The excise and other taxation policies need to
be reviewed in this perspective.
4.72. Changes in policies also need to be examined in
regard to:
• Linking incentives with the outcomes measured in
terms of employment. For example, incentives are
given to a wide range of production activities primarily
with the objective of promoting employment and
income of workers engaged in such activities. However,
such incentives are hardly ever calibrated against the
benefits realized in terms of employment and wages.
• Regular wage employment, that is, formal employment,
merits fiscal incentives. Such incentives already
exist at a limited scale for the larger establishments,
but are so designed as to make it difficult for medium
and small establishments to benefit from these.
4.73. Changing labour laws is a sensitive issue and it is
necessary to build a consensus. However, there are several
changes short of hire and fire which should not present
problems. These include:
• The locations and production activities that have a
high potential for employment creation merit a
differential treatment.
• Employment of women must be encouraged ensuring,
inter alia, the special needs that they may have by
virtue of change in working hours (night shifts, for
example) or the requirements of the family, for example,
child care.
• Contract labour in the domestic tariff area merits
encouragement, provided commensurate steps are
taken to increase social security
• Monitoring the implementation of labour laws, that
is, the reporting system should be simplified and be
permitted in an IT-friendly mode.
4.74. Even as steps are taken to increase the volume of
formal or regular employment, it is also necessary to take
steps to improve the quality of employment in the
unorganized sector. NCEUS in its August 2007 Report has
summarized, in the form of a 13-point Action Programme,
the main recommendations for the workers of Enterprises
in the Unorganized/Informal Sector. These are presented
in Box 4.2.
4.75. Unorganized sector enterprises mostly hire most
workers who get released, or relocated, from crop
agriculture (due to the reasons discussed earlier), and
seek wage employment in the manufacturing or services
sector. Any significant improvement in their income, and
quality of employment, is feasible only if the institutional
environment in the labour market makes it feasible for
the formal sector to reach out to such workers on a
decentralized basis rather than through a centralized plan
programme. The large coverage (in terms of absolute
numbers) through Provident Fund (43 million), Employee
State Insurance (33.0 million) a variety of welfare funds
(5.0 million), for beedi workers, for example) has been
possible because the institutional framework created
through the various Acts5 (P.F., E.S.I., Beedi Workers
Welfare Fund, etc.) recognized a relationship of those
employed on regular wage, with either the employer, or
the specific formal commodity market that provides work
to (that is, absorbs the output of labour put in by) the
unorganized enterprises’ workers.
4.76. As already argued, the creation of a formal
relationship between the worker and the hiring
establishment, in the regular wage employment mode, is
a critical factor in improving the quality of employment
of the workers hired by the unorganized enterprises. In
this context, the work being done by NCEUS6 on: (i) the
‘employment strategy’ to be pursued in respect of, and
through the, unorganized enterprises, (ii) the regime of
labour regulations to attract the unorganized enterprise
to give a formal recognition to the multitudes of workers
hired by them, and (iii) to enable them to gain access to
‘social security’, is of paramount importance.
5Of course, many of these organizations have to reorient their pattern
of working to the new realities of the market for wage labour in which
the role of public sector is diminishing and the average number of workers
hired by the private enterprises is reducing consequent upon changes in
technology leading to improvement in the productivity of labour.
6The relevant terms of reference of NCEUS are:
• Suggest elements of an employment strategy focusing on the
informal sector;
• Review Indian labour laws, consistent with labour rights, and with
the requirements of expanding growth of industry and services,
particularly in the informal sector, and improving productivity
and competitiveness; and
• Review the social security system available for labour in the
informal sector, and make recommendations for expanding their
coverage.
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 81
Box 4.2
A Thirteen Point Action Plan Suggested by the NCEUS for Employment in the Unorganized Sector
A. Protective Measures for Workers
1. Ensuring Minimum Conditions of Work in the Non-agricultural and Agricultural Sectors:
Two bills, for agricultural workers and non-agricultural workers, that specify the minimum conditions of work,
including a statutory national minimum wage for all workers
2. Minimum Level of Social Security:
A universal national minimum social security scheme, as part of a comprehensive legislation covering life, health and
disability, maternity and old age pension to protect the workers in the unorganized sectors.
B. Package of Measures for the Marginal and Small Farmers
3. Special Programme for Marginal and Small Farmer:
Revival of the targeted programme focusing on small and minor farmers, with an initial thrust in the areas wherein the
existing yield gap is also considered high. A special agency or a coordinating mechanism should be set up if required.
4. Emphasis on Accelerated Land and Water Management:
Immediate priority to, and significant up-scaling of, programmes for land and water management.
Revision of the priority sector landing policy to provide a quota for micro and small enterprises.
5. Credit for Marginal/Small Farmers:
RBI to monitor, separately, credit to this segment, expansion in the outreach of credit institutions in rural areas and
a credit guarantee fund to obviate the need for collateral by the marginal/small farmers in accessing the institutional
credits. A 10% share for small and marginal farmers in the priority sector credit (Table below)
6. Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission:
The Central government to lay guidelines and provide 75:25 assistance for setting up State-level Farmers’ Debt Relief
Commissions, in the States experiencing agrarian distress—natural or market related.
C. Measures to Improve Growth of the Non-agricultural Sector
7. Improve Credit Flow to the Non-agricultural Sector:
Percent Sector and Sub-Sector/Purpose
18 10% for small and marginal farmers; 8% for other farmers
10 4% for micro enterprises with capital investment (other than land and building) up to Rs 0.5 million
and 6% for other micro and small enterprises
12 12% on loans up to Rs 0.5 million to the socio-economically weaker sections for housing, education,
professions, and so on.
40 Total priority sectors lending
8. Encouraging SHGs and MFIs for Livelihood Promotion:
Measures to encourage growth of micro finance and SHGs in poor States and in the backward areas
9. Creation of a National Fund (NAFUS):
Rs 5000 crore initial corpus for an exclusive statutory agency to take care of requirements of micro and small enterprises
in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors that are presently not reached by SIDBI and NABARD.
10. Up-scaling Cluster Development through Growth Poles:
Twenty-five growth poles in the traditional industries clusters with incentives at par with SEZs
D. Measures to Expand Employment and Improve Employability
11. Expand Employment through Strengthening Self-employment Programmes:
Rationalization and strengthening of the four major self-employment generation programmes with 5 million annual
employment generation target.
12. Universalize and Strengthen National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA):
Extension of NREGA Programmes to all districts.
13. Increase Employability through Skill Development:
On-job-training cum employment-assurance programme to provide incentive of Rs 5000 per person to any employer
willing to provide one-year training on job skill enhancement.
82 Eleventh Five Year Plan
(million)
Status Estimated Projected
1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 2006–07 2011–12 2016–17
Population
Age 0+ 893.68 1005.05 1092.83 1128.31 1207.97 1283.24
Age 15–59 501.76 572.23 652.94 687.12 760.11 820.57
Labour Force
UPSS
Age 0+ 378.65 408.35 471.25 492.66 541.84 586.44
Age 15–59 337.71 369.22 431.95 451.70 496.65 535.20
CDS
Age 0+ 334.20 364.88 419.65 438.95 483.66 524.06
Age 15–59 298.95 330.78 385.87 403.75 444.72 479.70
Employment
UPSS
Age 0+ 371.12 398.93 459.72
Age 15–59 330.34 360.04 420.74
CDS
Age 0+ 313.93 338.19 384.91 402.24 460.31 518.20
Age 15–59 279.88 305.70 352.92
Unemployed
UPSS
Age 0+ 7.53 9.41 11.53
Age 15–59 7.37 9.17 11.21
CDS
Age 0+ 20.27 26.69 34.74 36.71 23.35 5.86
Age 15–59 19.07 25.08 32.95
Unemployment rate (%)
UPSS
Age 0+ 1.99 2.30 2.45
Age 15–59 2.18 2.48 2.60
CDS
Age 0+ 6.06 7.31 8.28 8.36 4.83 1.12
Age 15–59 6.38 7.58 8.54
ANNEXURE 4.1
Population, Labour Force, Employment, and Unemployment (1993–94 to 2016–17)
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 83
(%)
Industry 1983 to 1993–94 1993–94 to 2004–05 2006–07 to 2016–17
1. Agriculture 1.03 2.24 4.57
2. Minining and Quarrying 1.66 4.95 5.64
3. Manufacturing 2.29 3.31 7.27
4. Electricity, gas and water supply 3.70 5.46 7.51
5. Construction –1.43 1.45 5.56
6. Trade, hotels and restaurants 1.06 2.69 5.68
7. Transport, storage and communication 2.06 4.94 9.77
8. Finance, insurance, real estate and business services 2.79 –0.40 4.26
9. Community, social and personal services 1.57 5.90 6.11
Total 2.29 4.35 7.82
ANNEXURE 4.2
Annual Growth Rate of GDP per Worker
(’000)
Category Male Female Persons
1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Self-Employed 64.62 62.50 59.83 62.91 61.81 60.91 59.51 66.51 63.83 62.05 59.74 63.95
Regular Employees 11.50 9.52 10.25 10.25 4.45 4.55 4.88 5.12 9.52 8.10 8.72 8.76
Casual Labour 23.89 27.92 29.92 26.84 33.74 34.55 35.61 28.37 26.65 29.85 31.53 27.29
All 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Estimated Number 135203 170677 179866 197391 52695 68075 71357 80685 187898 238752 251223 278076
of Workers (’000)
Note: Derived from NSS reports on employment and unemployment situation in India.
ANNEXURE 4.3(A)
Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Category of Employment (CDS)—Rural India
(’000)
Category Male Female Persons
1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Self-Employed 40.96 42.57 42.24 45.86 39.09 40.83 41.07 43.94 40.66 42.27 42.05 45.50
Regular Employees 46.68 43.78 43.47 42.39 35.72 36.67 40.18 43.18 44.87 42.54 42.92 42.54
Casual Labour 12.35 13.65 14.29 11.75 25.19 22.50 18.75 12.88 14.47 15.19 15.03 11.96
All 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Estimated Number 43067 62103 72376 87027 8523 13076 14595 19806 51590 75179 86971 106833
of Workers (’000)
Note: Derived from NSS reports on employment and unemployment situation in India.
ANNEXURE 4.3(B)
Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Category of Employment (CDS)—Urban India
84 Eleventh Five Year Plan
(’000)
Category Male Female Persons
1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Self-Employed 58.91 57.18 54.79 57.69 58.64 57.67 56.38 62.06 58.84 57.31 55.19 58.83
Regular Employees 20.00 18.66 19.78 20.08 8.81 9.72 10.87 12.62 17.14 16.35 17.52 18.13
Casual Labour 21.10 24.16 25.43 22.22 32.55 32.60 32.75 25.32 24.03 26.34 27.29 23.03
All 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Estimated Number 178270 232780 252242 284418 61218 81151 85952 100491 239488 313931 338194 384909
of Workers (’000)
Note: Derived from NSS reports on employment and unemployment situation in India.
ANNEXURE 4.3(C)
Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Category of Employment (CDS)—All India
(per 1000) (UPSS basis)
Condition of Employment Rural Urban All
No written job contract 592 592 592
Not eligible for Paid Leave 480 455 464
Neither written job contract nor eligible for paid leave 712 549 630
Not eligible for Social Security Benefit1 569 535 547
Paid a Monthly Salary 857 900 884
Non-existence of Union/Associations 513 541 531
Sample Workers 17033 26385 43418
Source: Derived from NSS 61st round (2004–05).
1Coverage under any of the Schemes-Provident Fund, PPF with employer contribution, Gratuity, Health care and Maternity benefits.
ANNEXURE 4.4
Conditions of Employment of Regular Wage/Salaried Workers—2004–05
Type of Enterprise Distribution of Workers
Proprietory 378
Partnership 45
Employer household 49
Subtotal 472
Govt./Public sector 333
Public/Pvt.Ltd. Co. 127
Society/Trust 38
Subtotal 498
Others 18
N.R. 12
All 1000
Sample persons 43418
Source: Table 1, Appendix A, of NSS Report of 61st Round, No. 519.
ANNEXURE 4.5
Distribution of Regular Wage/Salaried Workers by Type of Enterprise
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 85
(% per annum)
Rural Male Rural Female
Category 1983 1993–94 1993–94 1999–2000 1983 1993–94 1993–94 1999–2000
to to to to to to to to
1993–94 2004–05 1999–2000 2004–2005 1993–94 2004–05 1999–2000 2004–2005
Casual Labour in Public Works 2.28 3.81 3.83 3.15 4.10 3.83 5.03 2.01
Casual Labour in Agriculture 2.75 2.18 2.79 1.21 3.07 2.10 2.93 0.93
Casual Labour in Non Agriculture 2.38 2.34 3.69 0.62 4.08 3.47 5.06 1.32
Casual Labour in all Activities 2.55 2.78 3.59 1.51 3.13 2.40 3.19 1.21
ANNEXURE 4.6
Growth of Average Daily Wage Earnings in Rural India (at 1993–94 price)
(’000)
Population 1999–2000 2004–05
Segment Self Regular Casual Total Self Regular Casual Total
Employed Wage/Salaried Labour Employed Wage/Salaried Labour
Rural Persons 32762 2457 41466 76686 33139 2273 34125 69537
(19.39) (11.62) (36.34) (25.21) (16.08) (9.30) (30.34) (20.27)
Urban Persons 9387 4201 7531 21120 12141 5302 7321 24765
(23.60) (11.10) (43.96) (22.29) (22.87) (11.49) (41.90) (21.22)
All Males 27728 5545 31602 64875 29135 5863 27388 62386
(19.68) (11.18) (36.77) (23.47) (17.17) (10.24) (31.85) (19.94)
All Females 14421 1114 17396 32931 16145 1713 14058 31916
(21.27) (11.84) (38.41) (26.88) (18.03) (12.83) (31.99) (21.74)
All Persons 42150 6658 48998 97806 45280 7576 41446 94302
(20.19) (11.29) (37.34) (24.52) (17.47) (10.73) (31.90) (20.51)
Notes: 1. Figures in brackets are the proportion of Poor workers to total workers in that category.
2. UPSS basis.
ANNEXURE 4.7
The Working Poor in India by their Gender, Location, and Category of Employment, 1999–2000 and 2004–05
86 Eleventh Five Year Plan
(%)
States/UTs Male Female Person
1. Andhra Pradesh –0.03 –0.03 –0.03
2. Assam –0.06 –0.09 –0.07
3. Bihar –0.39 –0.17 –0.28
4. Chhattisgarh –0.06 –0.07 –0.06
5. Gujarat 0.22 0.09 0.16
6. Haryana 0.40 0.35 0.37
7. Himachal Pradesh 0.04 –0.06 –0.01
8. Jharkhand –0.08 –0.02 –0.05
9. Karnataka 0.04 0.00 0.02
10. Kerala –0.08 –0.08 –0.08
11. Madhya Pradesh –0.01 0.00 –0.01
12. Maharashtra 0.37 0.21 0.29
13. Orissa –0.10 –0.04 –0.07
14. Punjab 0.20 0.07 0.14
15. Rajasthan –0.08 –0.05 –0.06
16. Tamil Nadu –0.08 –0.07 –0.08
17. Uttranchal –0.03 –0.06 –0.04
18. Uttar Pradesh –0.25 –0.16 –0.21
19. West Bengal –0.04 –0.04 –0.04
20. Delhi 1.93 1.57 1.77
21. Jammu and Kashmir –0.04 –0.06 –0.05
22. Arunachal Pradesh 0.73 0.57 0.65
23. Manipur –0.16 –0.13 –0.14
24. Meghalaya 0.09 0.04 0.07
25. Mizoram –0.16 –0.35 –0.25
26. Nagaland 0.05 –0.41 –0.17
27. Sikkim 0.26 0.16 0.21
28. Tripura 0.02 0.02 0.02
29. Andaman and Nicobar 0.80 0.66 0.74
30. Chandigarh 2.15 1.78 1.98
31. Dadra and Nagar Haveli 4.29 1.90 3.12
32. Daman and Diu 6.15 1.88 4.05
33. Lakshadweep 1.04 0.20 0.63
34. Pondicherry 0.74 0.94 0.84
35. Goa 0.83 0.59 0.71
36. NE States 0.07 –0.03 0.02
ANNEXURE 4.8
Net Migrants Rate (1991–2001)
Labour Policy
4.1. The generation of productive and gainful employment,
with decent working conditions, on a sufficient scale to
absorb our growing labour force must form a critical
element in the strategy for achieving inclusive growth.
Past record in this respect is definitely inadequate and
the problem is heightened by the fact that the relatively
higher rate of growth achieved during the last decade
or so is not seen to generate a sufficient volume of good
quality employment.
4.2. The Eleventh Plan provides an opportunity to focus
on and diagnose the reasons for past failings observed in
the employment situation and to reverse at least some of
the adverse employment outcomes associated with the
pattern of economic growth in the recent past.
WEAKNESSES IN PAST PERFORMANCE
4.3. The basic weakness in our employment performance
is the failure of the Indian economy to create a sufficient
volume of additional high quality employment to absorb
the new entrants into the labour force while also facilitating
the absorption of surplus labour that currently exists in
the agricultural sector, into higher wage, non-agricultural
employment. A successful transition to inclusive growth
requires migration of such surplus workers to other areas
for productive and gainful employment in the organized
or unorganized sector. Women agricultural workers in
families where the male head has migrated, also require
special attention given the need for credit and other
inputs if they are self-employed in agriculture or for wage
employment if they do not have land.
4.4. The approach to the Eleventh Plan had identified
the following specific weaknesses on the employment
front which illustrate the general failing just discussed.
• The rate of unemployment has increased from 6.1%
in 1993–94 to 7.3% in 1999–2000, and further to 8.3%
in 2004–05.1,2
• Unemployment among agricultural labour households
has risen from 9.5% in 1993–94 to 15.3% in 2004–05.
• Under-employment appears to be on the rise, as evident
from a widening of the gap between the usual status
(us) and the current daily status measures of creation
of incremental employment opportunities between the
periods 1994 to 2000 and 2000 to 2005 (Annexure 4.1).
• While non-agricultural employment expanded at a
robust annual rate of 4.7% during the period 1999–
2000 to 2004–05, this growth was largely in the
unorganized sector.
• Despite fairly healthy GDP growth, employment in
the organized sector actually declined, leading to
frustration among the educated youth who have rising
expectations.
• Although real wages of casual labour in agriculture
continue to rise during 2000–2005, growth has
decelerated strongly, as compared to the previous
1Unless otherwise stated, the employment and unemployment
estimates are on ‘Current Daily Status’ (CDS) basis. See Box 4.1 for
other measures of employment which are also relevant.
2Three kinds of estimates for the unemployed are obtained following
the three different approaches. See Box 4.1.
64 Eleventh Five Year Plan
quinquennium (1994–2000), almost certainly reflecting
poor performance in agriculture. However, over the
longer periods 1983 to 1993–94 (period I) and 1993–
94 to 2004–05 (Period II), the decline is moderate for
rural male agricultural casual labour, from 2.75% to
2.18% per annum.
• Growth of average real wage rates in non-agriculture
employment in the period 1999–2000 to 2004–05 has
been negligible. Seen over the longer period of two
decades (Period I and Period II), the wages have
steadily increased at over 2% per annum.
• In respect of entire rural male casual labour, the growth
in real wages accelerated from 2.55% (Period I) to
2.78% per annum (Period II) (Annexure 4.6).
• Real wages stagnated or declined even for workers in
the organized industry although managerial and
technical staff did secure large increase.
• Wage share in the organized industrial sector has
halved after the 1980s and is now among the lowest in
the world.
4.5. It is only through a massive effort at employment
creation, of the right quality, and decent conditions of
work for all sections of population and at all locations
that a fair redistribution of benefits from growth can be
achieved. This indeed is a stupendous task. Alternative
policy measures focusing on different sectors and
occupations, and the specific requirements of different
target groups are needed to create employment on a
sustainable basis.
RECENT EXPERIENCE REVISITED
4.6. The Tenth Plan was framed against the backdrop
of concerns that were posed by the employment and
unemployment survey in 1999–2000 (NSS 55th Round),
which showed very low growth of employment compared
with 1993–94. Jobless growth therefore became a key
concern and the Plan set a target of creating 50 million
new employment opportunities on a current daily status
basis. (For a brief description of different concepts of
employment see Box 4.1.)
4.7. The results of the most recent 61st Round of NSS for
2004–05 reveal a somewhat better picture of employment
growth in the Tenth Plan period than in the previous
period. During 1999–2000 to 2004–05, about 47 million
work opportunities were created as compared to only
24 million in the previous period 1993–94 to 1999–2000.
Further, employment growth accelerated from 1.25% per
annum during the period 1993–94 to 1999–2000 to 2.62%
per annum during the period 1999–2000 to 2004–05. The
annual increase in work opportunities increased from 4.0
million per year in the first period to 9.3 million per annum
in the second period (Table 4.1).
Box 4.1
The Three Kinds of Estimates of the Unemployed1
Unemployment rate is defined as the number of persons unemployed per 1000 persons in the labour force. Three kinds of
estimates for the unemployed are obtained following the three different approaches. These are:
(i) number of persons usually unemployed based on ‘usual status’ approach,
(ii) number of persons unemployed on an average in a week based on the ‘weekly status’ and
(iii) number of person-days unemployed on an average during the reference period of seven days preceding the survey.
The first estimate indicates the magnitude of persons unemployed for a relatively longer period during a reference period
of 365 days and approximates to an estimate of chronically unemployed. Some of the unemployed on the basis of this
criterion might be working in a subsidiary capacity during the reference period. The former is called as the usually unemployed
according to the principal status and the latter, the usually unemployed excluding the subsidiary status workers (us adjusted)
which admittedly will be lower than the former. The second estimate based on the weekly status gives the average weekly
picture during the survey year and includes both chronic unemployment and also the intermittent unemployment, of those
categorized as usually unemployed, caused by seasonal fluctuations in the labour market. The third estimate based on the
daily status concept gives average level of unemployment on a day during the survey year. It is the most inclusive rate of
‘unemployment’ capturing the unemployed days of the chronically unemployed, the unemployed days of the usually employed
who become intermittently unemployed during the reference week, and the unemployed days of those classified as employed
according to the priority criterion of current weekly status.
1NSSO Report No. 409: Employment and Unemployment in India 1993–94: NSS 50th Round; Chapter 7.
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 65
4.8. Despite these positive features, it must also be noted
that the labour force also grew faster in the second period.
However, the pace of growth in labour force in the second
period at 2.84% per annum exceeded the growth in the
workforce (employment) of 2.62% per annum, so that
the unemployment rate increased from 7.3% in 1999–2000
to 8.3% in 2004–05.
LONG-TERM TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT
SITUATION: 1983 THROUGH 2005
4.9. Some analysts have viewed the 1999–2000 survey
as an ‘outlier’ because of the relatively depressed
employment situation in that year, and have commented
that 1999–2000 was a case of low statistical base, which
shows up as high growth of employment in the next
period 2000–05. On this view, a better assessment
of trends emerges if we compare developments over
two relatively longer periods, that is, 1983 to 1993–94
(period I–10.5 years) and 1993–94 to 2004–05 (period
II–11 years).
4.10. Table 4.1 presents a comparison of the trends in
employment and labour force over a longer period. It is
evident that population growth decelerated in Period II
as compared with Period I and this led to a deceleration
in labour force growth also. However, the growth of the
workforce, that is, total employment, also decelerated
in Period II. Employment grew more slowly than the
labour force in Period II which raised the unemployment
rate from 6.1% in 1993–94 to 8.3% in 2004–05. Measured
in absolute terms, the average annual increase in
employment opportunities during Period II was 6.45
million, which is lower than the annual increase of 7.09
million in Period I.
4.11. The inadequate increase in aggregate employment
in Period II is associated with a sharp drop in the pace
of creation of work opportunities in agriculture. Agriculture
should not be expected to create additional
employment but, rather, to reduce the extent of underemployment
and thereby increase incomes and wages
(current daily status basis)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 1999–2000 1983 1993–94
to to to to
1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 2004–05
(’000 person years) (% per annum)
All India
Population 718101 893676 1005046 1092830 1.98 1.69 2.11 1.85
Labour Force 263824 334197 364878 419647 1.47 2.84 2.28 2.09
Workforce 239489 313931 338194 384909 1.25 2.62 2.61 1.87
Unemployment Rate (%) 9.22 6.06 7.31 8.28
No. of Unemployed 24335 20266 26684 34738 4.69 5.42 –1.73 5.02
Rural
Population 546642 658771 728069 779821 1.68 1.38 1.79 1.55
Labour Force 206152 252955 270606 303172 1.13 2.3 1.97 1.66
Workforce 187899 238752 251222 278076 0.85 2.05 2.31 1.40
Unemployment Rate (%) 8.85 5.61 7.16 8.28
No. of Unemployed 18253 14203 19383 25097 5.32 5.3 –2.36 5.31
Urban
Population 171459 234905 276977 313009 2.78 2.48 3.04 2.64
Labour Force 57672 81242 94272 116474 2.51 4.32 3.32 3.33
Workforce 51590 75179 86972 106833 2.46 4.2 3.65 3.25
Unemployment Rate (%) 10.55 7.46 7.74 8.28
No. of Unemployed 6082 6063 7300 9641 3.14 5.72 –0.03 4.31
Note: Estimates both on UPSS basis and CDS basis are given in Annexure 4.1.
TABLE 4.1
Past and Present Scenario on Employment and Unemployment
66 Eleventh Five Year Plan
of those employed in agriculture while surplus labour
shifts to the non-agriculture sector. However, the
increase in employment in the non-agricultural sectors
was disappointing.
4.12. As shown in Table 4.2, the dependence of the workforce
on agriculture and allied sectors declined from 61%
in 1993–94 to 52% in 2004–05, that is, a decline of
9 percentage points as compared with a decline of only
4 percentage points in the period 1983 to 1993–94. Thus,
work opportunities diversified away from agriculture at a
faster pace during the latter period 1993–94 to 2004–05.
4.13. Table 4.3 shows the annual increase in the work-force
by category of employment in Period I compared with
Period II. There has been a sustained increase in employment
opportunities since 1993–94, although at a slower
rate than in the earlier period. A notable feature is the sharp
increase in the number of jobs created at regular salaried
wage—from 0.98 million per year in Period I to 1.68
million per year in Period II. This is a direct consequence
of the step-up in the expansion of the manufacturing and
services sectors, as already discussed. However, the pace of
opening up of employment opportunities for casual wage
labour getting released from the agriculture sector has
slowed down sharply in Period II. The annual increase
in this category was 2.40 million in Period I but which
declined to 0.54 million in Period II (Table 4.3), mainly
reflecting the lower absorption in agriculture which was
not offset by an expansion in other sectors.
(CDS basis) (million)
Category of Employment 1983 to 1993–94 1993–94 to 2004–05
Self-employed 3.71 4.23
(52.39) (65.57)
Salaried wage 0.98 1.68
(13.83) (26.02)
Casual wage 2.40 0.54
(33.78) (8.41)
Workforce 7.09 6.45
(100.00) (100.00)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentages.
Source: Derived from data in Annexure 4.3(C).
TABLE 4.3
Annual Increase in Workforce by
Category of Employment
(CDS basis) (%)
Industry 1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 2006–07
Agriculture 65.42 61.03 56.64 52.06 50.19
Mining and Quarrying 0.66 0.78 0.67 0.63 0.61
Manufacturing 11.27 11.10 12.13 12.90 13.33
Electricity, water, etc. 0.34 0.41 0.34 0.35 0.33
Construction 2.56 3.63 4.44 5.57 6.10
Trade, hotel, and restaurant 6.98 8.26 11.20 12.62 13.18
Transport, storage, and comm. 2.88 3.22 4.06 4.61 5.06
Financial, insurance, real estate, and business services 0.78 1.08 1.36 2.00 2.22
Community, social, and personal services 9.10 10.50 9.16 9.24 8.97
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Note: *Projected.
TABLE 4.2
Sector-wise Share of Employment by Current Daily Status
SECTOR-WISE EMPLOYMENT GENERATION
ACHIEVED IN THE TENTH PLAN
4.14. Though the aggregate employment generation of
47 million work opportunities in the period 1999–2000
to 2004–05 was fairly close to the target of 50 million
employment opportunities for the Tenth Plan, the
performance across sectors has varied (see Table 4.4).
4.15. The achievement with respect to employment creation
was short of the Tenth Plan target in the agriculture sector
by 0.6 million persons (8.84 million increase against a
target of 9.47 million). The increase in the manufacturing
sector was short by 3 million persons (8.64 million increase
against a target of 11.62 million); in trade, hotel, and
restaurants by 0.53 million (10.70 million against a target
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 67
of 11.23 million); and in transport and communication
by 1.47 million (4.04 million against a target of 5.51
million). In contrast, the construction, financial services,
and community, social and personal services sectors
exceeded the Tenth plan target of employment. In
proportional terms, the largest shortfall in employment
generation has been in manufacturing.
INFORMALIZATION OF EMPLOYMENT
4.16. A critical issue in assessing employment behaviour
of the economy is the growth of employment in the
organized sector vis-à-vis the unorganized sector. Public
debate on this issue is usually conducted on the basis that
unorganized sector employment is generally of low quality
while organized sector employment is of high quality, and
the focus of attention is on whether employment has
increased in the organized sector. The inadequacy of growth
in the organized sector has traditionally been illustrated
using data on employment by units registered with the
Directorate General of Employment and Training, which
are typically large units in the organized sector. These data
are presented in Table 4.5 below and they clearly show that
whereas organized sector employment increased at the
annual rate of 1.2% per year in the period 1983–1994, it
actually declined at 0.3% per year in the period after 1994.
This decline is shown to occur primarily on account of a
decline in employment in public sector units. Employment
growth in the private sector units has accelerated in the
second period but the acceleration is clearly insufficient
to offset the decline in public sector employment.
4.17. This issue can be explored further on the basis of
data from the NSS employment surveys in 1999–2000
and 2004–05 which distinguish individuals according to
type of establishment and also type of labour conditions.
Data for the 61st Round3 is presented in Annexures 4.4
(CDS basis)
Sector Incremental Employment (million)
Target Achievement Achievement Projected
(2002–07) (2000–05) (1994–2005) (2007–12)
(5 years) (5 years) (11 years) (5 years)
Agriculture 9.47 8.84 8.82 0.00
Mining and Quarrying –0.2 0.17 0.00 0.00
Manufacturing 11.62 8.64 14.84 11.94
Electricity, water, etc. –0.21 0.18 0.00 0.02
Construction 6.3 6.44 10.05 11.92
Trade, hotel, and restaurant 11.23 10.70 22.67 17.40
Transport, storage, and comm. 5.51 4.04 7.64 9.02
Financial, insurance., real estate, and business services 1.93 3.12 4.31 3.43
Community, social, and personal services 0.49 4.59 2.62 4.34
Total 49.00 46.72 70.98 58.07
{(a)(b)}
Notes: a Including 2.87 million contribution from special employment programmes.
b To create 50 million opportunities, the Tenth Plan envisaged a contribution of 20 million from selective innovative programmes and policies
leading to a changed pattern of growth in favour of the labour intensive sectors, over and above 30 million through normal buoyancy from growth.
TABLE 4.4
Sector-wise Performance and Targets of Employment
(% per annum)
Sector 1983–1994 1994–2005
Public Sector 1.53 –0.70
Private Sector 0.44 0.58
Total Organized 1.20 –0.31
TABLE 4.5
Growth in Organized Employment
3Wage workers among the household members who answered NSSO
questions in the 61st Round (2004–05) were asked as to whether the
employers provide the following types of benefits to them, and also
the method of receiving payment:
68 Eleventh Five Year Plan
and 4.5. The design of enquiry in the two rounds was
not identical, and in the 55th Round it was restricted only
to the receipt of PF benefits by employees.4
4.18. Using this data it is possible to obtain a broad picture
of employment growth in three categories of establishments,
that is, private establishments hiring less than 10 workers,
private establishments hiring 10 workers or more, and public
sector establishments. Within each category, one can
distinguish between regular employees, casual employees,
and self-employed. Table 4.6 presents data for the set of
employees other than those engaged in crop agriculture.
(i) Benefits eligible for:
1. Only PF/pension (that is, GPF, CPF, PPF, pension, etc.)
2. Only gratuity
3. Only health care and maternity benefits
4. Only PF/pension and gratuity
5. Only PF/pension and health care and maternity benefits
6. Only gratuity and health care and maternity benefits
7. PF/pension, gratuity, health care, and maternity benefits
8. Not eligible for any of above social security benefits
(ii) Method of payment received by the wage workers:
1. Regular monthly salary
2. Regular weekly payment
3. Daily payment
4. Piece rate payment
5. Others
4In the 55th Round (1999–2000), all the usual status workers (note
here ‘all’ includes self-employed workers, too) were asked whether they
had the benefit of:
Employment Status by Ownership 1999–2000 2004–05 Increase/Decrease Increase/Decrease
and by Workers’ Size of Enterprise (absolute) (%)
(thousands)
I. Regular Employees
Private < 10 24171 27446 3275 13.55
Private > 10 11225 15650 4425 39.42
Public 19760 22042 2283 11.55
Subtotal I–Regular Employees 55155 65138 9983 18.10
II. Casual Employees
Private < 10 26197 28497 2300 8.78
Private > 10 5083 8075 2992 58.86
Public 943 1102 159 16.86
Subtotal II–Casual Employees 32223 37674 5451 16.92
III Self-Employed
Private < 10 65514 81535 16021 24.45
Private > 10 1330 1998 668 50.23
Public 145 250 105 72.41
Subtotal III–Self Employed 66989 83783 16794 25.07
All Enterprises and All Employment Status
Private < 10 115882 137478 21596 18.64
Private > 10 17637 25722 8085 45.84
Public 20848 23394 2547 12.22
Total I–III 154367 186595 32228 20.88
Note: Derived from unit level data of NSS 55th round and 61st round
TABLE 4.6
Non-Agricultural Workers by Size and by Ownership of Establishment (Usual Principal Status Basis)
1. GPF
2. PPF
3. CPF
4. A combination of the above
5. None of the above
No question was asked on the method of payment to wage
workers.
4.19. The picture that emerges is the following:
• Total employment in public sector establishments
has increased by 12.2% in the period 1999–2000 to
2004–05.
• Total employment in private sector establishments
hiring less than 10 workers has increased by 18.6% in
the same period.
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 69
• Total employment in private sector establishments
hiring more than 10 workers has increased by as much
as 45.8%!
4.20. If we treat employment in establishments hiring
more than 10 workers as a measure of organized sector
employment, the increase in organized sector employment
in the private sector is more than the increase in the
private unorganized sector.
4.21. If we limit our focus on regular employees in the
larger private sector units, this category shows growth of
39.42%. However, the growth of casual employees in the
larger private sector units was even faster at 58.9%.
4.22. The above conclusions emerge from unit level data
of the NSS surveys focusing on the distinction between
regular and casual employees. However some so-called
regular employees do not have the benefits of social security.
It is also possible to define organized employment more
tightly to limit it to employees who receive provident
fund and social security benefits. This has been done by
the National Commission for Employment in the
Unorganized Sector (NCEUS). As per NCEUS estimates,
20.46 million of the 54.12 million employees working in
the organized sector in 1999–2000, were unorganized
workers, and the remaining 33.67 million were organized.
During the next five-year period, that is, 2000–05, while
the number of organized workers by this definition
remained constant, the number of unorganized workers
in organized enterprises increased by 8.68 million to 29.14
million (Table 4.7).
4.23. The NCEUS data does not correspond with those
in Table 4.6 since they include all of agriculture workers
in the unorganized sector. Of the total increase in
employment of 61 million on a Usual Principal and
Subsidiary Status (UPSS) basis, the increase in the
unorganized sector is 52 million and the increase in the
organized sector is 9 million. However, while total
employment in the organized sector has increased over
the period, the increase is entirely on account of what is
classified as informal employment in the organized sector,
that is, workers who do not have the benefit of provident
fund and social security. Whereas employment of this
category expanded by over 42%, employment categorized
as formal was more or less stagnant.
4.24. To summarize, the recent experience with
employment growth presents a mixed picture. If we focus
on the most recent period, 1999–2000 to 2004–05, there
appears to be an acceleration in employment growth
compared with the preceding period which is consistent
with expectations, given the acceleration in GDP growth.
However, looking at longer term trends, this acceleration
in employment growth disappears and in any case the
rate of unemployment has increased throughout. Concerns
about the quality of employment appear valid although
different sources of data are not easily reconciled.
However, it does appear that total employment provided
by the organized sector has expanded in the period 1999–
2000 to 2004–05 and this is entirely because of the growth
of informal employment in the organized sector.
4.25. These trends highlight the major challenges
of employment in the Eleventh Plan which can be
summarized as follows:
• How to ensure faster growth in employment than in
the labour force so as to reduce unemployment.
Sector 1999–2000 2004–2005
Informal Formal Total Informal Formal Total
Unorganized Sector 341.28 1.36 342.64 393.47 1.43 394.90
(99.60) (0.40) (100) (99.64) (0.36) (100)
Organized Sector 20.46 33.67 54.12 29.14 33.42 62.57
(37.80) (62.20) (100) (46.58) (53.42) (100)
Total: 361.74 35.02 396.76 422.61 34.85 457.46
(91.17) (8.83) (100) (92.38) (7.46) (100)
Notes: 1. UPSS basis.
2. Figures in bracket indicate percentages.
Source: Estimates by NCEUS.
TABLE 4.7
Distribution of Workers by Type of Employment and Sector
(million)
70 Eleventh Five Year Plan
• How to ensure faster growth in the organized sector
than the unorganized sector so that the share of
organized sector employment increases.
• How to ensure growth in formal employment in the
organized sector and not just the informal employment.
UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG THE YOUNG
AND EDUCATED
4.26. Unemployment is typically higher among the
youth and the educated who look for better quality
of jobs, and this phenomenon is illustrated in Tables
4.8 and 4.9. Table 4.8 shows that unemployment
(%) (CDS basis)
Year Rural Areas Urban Areas
Male Female Male Female
1993–94 9.0 7.6 13.7 21.2
1999–2000 11.1 10.6 14.7 19.1
2004–05 12.0 12.7 13.7 21.5
Source: NSSO Report No. 515(61/10/1)
TABLE 4.8
Unemployment Rate among Youth
(Age Group 15–29 Years)
General Level of Rural male Rural female Urban male Urban female
Education 1993– 1999– 2004– 1993– 1999– 2004– 1993– 1999– 2004– 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Not literate 1.8 3.0 2.7 2.2 2.7 2.5 2.2 3.1 2.8 2.2 2.0 2.5
Literate and up 1.9 3.0 3.0 2.6 2.6 3.1 3.5 4.1 3.7 4.8 3.6 4.0
to primary
Secondary 8.3 7.3 6.5 19.8 16.9 18.2 7.0 6.9 6.2 19.6 15.8 17.9
and above
ALL 3.1 3.9 3.8 2.9 3.7 4.2 5.2 5.6 5.2 7.9 7.3 9.0
Source: NSSO Report No. 515(61/10/1).
TABLE 4.9
Unemployment Rates for Persons of Age 15 Years and above by Level of Education on
Current Weekly Status (CWS) Basis
(%)
among the age group 15–29 years for both males and
females and in urban and rural areas is significantly higher
than the average level of unemployment of all persons.
4.27. CDS measure has been used for analysis of trends in
workforce, in keeping with the practice followed in the
Tenth Five Year Plan. However this, being a person days
measure (that is, a time-based measure), is not amenable,
straightaway, to study of person-specific characteristics
of the workers. Current weekly and the us measures
study the activity status of a person over the reference
period (week or the year) (CWS, UPSS, and UPS) and
are therefore amenable to study of person-specific
characteristics. Hence, in presenting the person-specific
features of employed or unemployed persons Current
Weekly Status (CWS) or the UPSS measures have
been used.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION AMONG THE
VULNERABLE GROUPS
4.28. It is useful to distinguish between several different
groups who face special difficulties in employment.
(i) Agricultural Labour Households and Casual
Labour in Rural Areas
4.29. Out of 460 million workers (UPSS), 94 million
earn so little that they are below the poverty line.
And if that is the lot of employed workers, the lot of
the poor who are unemployed in the labour force
must be worse, which is a cause of concern to the
planning process.
4.30. The proportion of poor among the workers in the
rural areas decreased from 25.2% in 1999–2000 to 20.3%
in 2004–05. In urban areas, the incidence of poverty
among the workers decreased from 22.29% to 21.22%.
Though there is a net decrease by 3.5 million in the
number of poor workers during 2000–05, the magnitude
of poor workers at 94.3 million in 2004–05 remains
very high. The incidence of poverty among the regular
wage/salaried workers is much lower (around 11%) as
compared to the casual labour (32%) and the selfemployed
workers (17%). This suggests that all efforts
should be made to increase the regular wage/salaried jobs.
(Annexure 4.7).
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 71
4.31. Unemployment among the rural agriculture labour
households, which is the single largest segment of the
poor labour households, is now 15.3% (Table 4.10). It is
possible to infer that the magnitude of poverty among
them may have remained the same or even increased.
4.32. There has been a slight deceleration in the growth
in wages of rural male casual agricultural labour from
2.75% per annum during 1983–94 to 2.18% per annum
during 1994–2005. The fall in the case of females is more
steep, from 3.07% per annum to 2.10% per annum
(Annexure 4.6).
(ii) Weaker Social Groups: The Scheduled
Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)
4.33. Table 4.11 gives the unemployment rates among
SCs vis-à-vis others (excluding SC, ST and OBC) from
National Sample Surveys from 1983 (38th Round) to
2004–05 (61st Round). It is pertinent to mention here
that for 1983 (38th Round) and 1993–94 (50th Round),
there was no separate category of OBC and therefore the
category ‘others’ included OBC also in these two rounds.
It may be seen that between 1999–2000 and 2004–05,
the unemployment rates for females, SCs as well as others,
in both rural and urban areas have increased; by 0.8
percentage point in rural areas and 1.5 percentage point
in urban areas. For urban males, unemployment among
SCs increased by 0.4 percentage point, whereas among
others it declined by 0.8 percentage point during 1999–
2000 to 2004–05.
4.34. Table 4.12 presents a comparative picture of
unemployment among STs and Others; so far as rural
males are concerned, there is no change in unemployment
rates between 1999–2000 and 2004–05 for SCs; but for
others, the unemployment rate has declined slightly.
On the other hand, during the same periods, the
unemployment rate for females in rural areas has
declined for SCs, and for Others it has increased by 0.8
(%)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05
Rural Areas
Male 1.2 (1.4) 1.2 (1.4) 1.8 (1.8) 1.7 (1.6
Female 0.5 (0.7) 0.4 (0.8) 0.6 (1.0) 1.4 (1.8)
Urban Areas
Male 5.1 (0.7) 4.6 (4.0) 5.1 (4.6) 5.5 (3.8)
Female 2.9 (4.9) 4.4 (6.2) 3.1 (5.4) 4.6 (6.9)
Note: 1CDS measure has been used for analysis of trends in the work-force, in
keeping with the practice followed in the Tenth Five Year Plan. However, this,
being a person days measure (that is, a time based measure), is not amenable,
straightaway, to the study of person-specific characteristics of the workers.
Current weekly and the us measures study the activity status of a person over the
reference period (week or the year) (CWS, UPSS, and UPS) and are therefore
amenable to the study of person-specific characteristics. Hence, in presenting
the person-specific features of employed or unemployed persons, CWS or the
UPSS measures have been used.
2CDS estimates are not available from NSS reports. Therefore, UPSS estimates are
given in this Table. However it should be noted that these are under-estimates of
unemployment because CDS measure is the most comprehensive measure of
unemployment and CDS estimates are significantly higher than UPSS estimates.
3Figures in parentheses are the corresponding unemployment rates for others
(excluding SC, ST, and OBC).
Source: Report No. 516 (61/10/2), Employment and Unemployment Situation
among Social Groups in India, 2004–05.
TABLE 4.11
Unemployment Rate according to Usual Status
(ps+ss)1,2,3 for Scheduled Castes during 1983 to 2004–05
(CDS basis)
Year Unemployment Rate (%)
1983 7.73
1993–94 9.50
1999–2000 12.29
2004–05 15.26
TABLE 4.10
Incidence of Unemployment among
Rural Agricultural Households
(%)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05
Rural Areas
Male 0.5 (1.4) 0.8 (1.4) 1.1 (1.8) 1.1 (1.6)
Female 0.1 (0.7) 0.3 (0.8) 0.5 (1.0) 0.4 (1.8)
Urban Areas
Male 4.3 (0.7) 4.7 (4.0) 4.4 (4.6) 2.9 (3.8)
Female 1.5 (4.9) 1.7 (6.2) 2.8 (5.4) 3.4 (6.9)
Note: 1CDS measure has been used for analysis of trends in the work-force, in
keeping with the practice followed in the Tenth Five Year Plan. However, this,
being a person days measure (that is, a time based measure), is not amenable,
straightaway, to the study of person-specific characteristics of the workers.
Current weekly and the us measures study the activity status of a person over the
reference period (week or the year) (CWS, UPSS, and UPS) and are therefore
amenable to the study of person-specific characteristics. Hence, in presenting
the person-specific features of employed or unemployed persons, CWS or the
UPSS measures have been used.
2CDS estimates are not available from NSS reports. Therefore, UPSS estimates are
given in this Table. However it should be noted that these are under-estimates of
unemployment because CDS measure is the most comprehensive measure of
unemployment and CDS estimates are significantly higher than UPSS estimates.
3Figures in parentheses are the corresponding unemployment rates for others
(excluding SC, ST, and OBC).
Source: Report No. 516 (61/10/2), Employment and Unemployment Situation
among Social Groups in India, 2004–05.
TABLE 4.12
Unemployment Rate according to Usual Status
(ps+ss)1,2,3 for Scheduled Tribes during 1983 to 2004–05
72 Eleventh Five Year Plan
percentage point. In urban areas, the unemployment
rate for males in both categories, namely SCs and Others
has declined, but for females it has increased.
(iii) The Children at Work
4.35. Estimates from the 61st Round reveal that 5.82
million children (age 5–14 years) work; 1.136 million in
urban areas and 4.682 million in rural areas (Table 4.13).
Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), also, has
a responsibility with regard to the development of
adolescent girls and thus keeping them away from
wage employment.
4.38. The focus of efforts to eradicate child labour has
to be location specific, confined to those pockets where
employers are prone to be exploitative in accessing the
cheapest cost labour. High per-capita income locations
(metro towns, in particular), destinations of migrant
worker families and ‘industrial belts’, where informal
work relationships for labour-intensive occupations
thrive, have therefore to be closely monitored through
innovative mechanisms that provide intelligence to the
enforcement agencies.
4.39. Any expansion of the Child Labour Eradication
Plan has to be made only after a careful evaluation of the
existing scheme with regard to:
• Its effectiveness in dovetailing SSA and ICDS;
• The ability to involve State administrations which
implement the CSS pertaining to the development,
education, nutrition, and protection of children;
• A purely Central Plan funded effort should be in the
nature of an emergent action over a limited duration
at the location, where the local administration are, by
ignorance or by design, seem to be aiding the use of
cheap child labour for serving the profit motive of the
citizens at that location.
• A suitable form of penalization should be imposed in
such local and State Governments that seem to be
paying only ‘lip service’ to curb the problem of the
use of ‘cheap cost child labour’.
(iv) Women Workers
4.40. Women comprise 48.3% of the population but have
only 26.1% share in the persons employed. This is
presently because their share is in the labour force is only
26.4% (Table 4.14). The female labour force participation
rates (LFPR) across all age groups are 25 to 30% of the
male LFPR in urban areas, and 35 to 40% of male LFPR
in the rural areas.
4.41. Along with lower participation rates, women
face a higher incidence of unemployment than men.
This is especially so for higher levels of education. While
the unemployment rates between men and women
(’000)
Heads 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Labour Force 9919 1552 7792 1447 5182 1292
Workforce 9441 1442 7203 1320 4682 1136
Unemployed 479 110 589 127 501 156
Unemployment 4.83 7.08 7.56 8.78 9.66 12.08
Rate (%)
TABLE 4.13
Estimated Number of Children (5–14 Years)
in the Labour Force, Workforce, and Unemployed—
All India (CDS Basis)
4.36. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986 prohibits employment of children below 14 years in
hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the
working conditions in other employments. Compliance
with the provisions of this Act is the responsibility
of Labour Sector of the Plan (Ministry of Labour
and Employment). At present, the laws do not prohibit
employment of children in non-hazardous occupations
but children so employed must have access to education.
Against this background, the Eleventh Plan Working
Group on Child Labour has estimated that 3.643 million
children (5–14 years) were working in the nonagricultural
sector, out of which 1.219 million children
were engaged in hazardous occupations. Chapter 6
(Volume II) Towards Women’s Agency and Child Rights
gives the comprehensive approach to deal with the problem
of children at work and exposed to other risks.
4.37. The education sector has a pre-eminent role in
ensuring that all children in the age group 9–14 years are
at school. To the extent this goal of SSA can be ensured
(now that there is a fourfold increase, at constant price,
in the Eleventh Plan over the Tenth Plan, duly backed
by scheme-tied revenue through a Cess), the tendency
to utilize child labour at a cheap cost to increase profits
from making children work, can be curbed. The
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 73
do not differ much up to the primary level of schooling,
unemployment among women educated up to the
secondary and higher levels is much higher than among
men. In the urban areas, unemployment among young
women in the 15–29 years age group is much higher than
for men, and is highest among young urban women in
the 20–24 years age group where one among every four
girls seeking work cannot find it. They are in a especially
vulnerable position when they seek entry into the regular
wage jobs in the unorganized or even in the private organized
sector, in urban areas. This has many implications for our
labour policy, particularly the gender sensitive regulations,
the social policies and programmes that are designed to
promote ‘equality’ at work.
4.42. A measure of ‘underemployment’ is the change
in activity status of the persons employed, when the
reference period for the study of time disposition is
reduced from one year (the us measure) to an average
day of the past week (CDS measure). Only 66% of rural
women who are counted as employed on the US measure,
are seen as employed on the CDS measure, whereas the
corresponding proportion for men is higher at 89% (NSS
Report No. 515 (61/10/1) (Part I) (September 2006)
(Statement 7.2.1). The deceleration in wage rates of casual
labour in agriculture between the periods 1994–2000 and
2000–05 has been higher for women (2.93% per annum
to 0.93% per annum) than for men (2.79% to 1.21%).
Participation in education by girls (15–19 years) in rural
areas is only 33% (as compared to 47% for men), and
the gender disparity increases sharply in the next age
group, that is, 20–24 years. Only 1.3% of young women
(15–29 years) in rural areas received formal vocational
training. Such features of the labour market for women
are reflected in the fact that as much as 21.7% of
employed women have consumption levels below poverty
line in 2004–05, that is, they are employed yet still
poor. This proportion is lower among men—19.9%.
(Annexure 4.7).
4.43. The principal reasons for low participation by
women in the labour force are:
(CDS basis)
1983 1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 1999–2000 1983 1993–94
to to to to
1999–2000 2004–05 1993–94 2004–05
(’000 person years) (% per annum)
All India
Population 718101 893676 1005046 1092830 1.98 1.69 2.11 1.85
Labour Force 263824 334197 364878 419647 1.47 2.84 2.28 2.09
Workforce 239489 313931 338194 384909 1.25 2.62 2.61 1.87
Unemployment Rate (%) 9.22 6.06 7.31 8.28
No. of Unemployed 24335 20266 26684 34738 4.69 5.42 –1.73 5.02
Female
Population 346546 430188 484837 527355 2.01 1.70 2.08 1.87
Labour Force 68011 86728 92859 110886 1.14 3.61 2.34 2.26
Workforce 61218 81151 85952 100491 0.96 3.18 2.72 1.96
Unemployment Rate (%) 9.99 6.43 7.44 9.37
No. of Unemployed 6793 5578 6907 10395 3.63 8.52 –1.86 5.82
Male
Population 371556 463488 520209 565475 1.94 1.68 2.13 1.82
Labour Force 195813 247468 272019 308761 1.59 2.57 2.25 2.03
Workforce 178270 232780 252242 284417 1.35 2.43 2.57 1.84
Unemployment Rate (%) 8.96 5.94 7.27 7.88
No. of Unemployed 17542 14688 19777 24343 5.08 4.24 –1.68 4.70
TABLE 4.14
Past and Present Macro Scenario on Employment and Unemployment—Male and Female
74 Eleventh Five Year Plan
• Wage rates of women are lower than of male for
comparable occupations.
• Women are denied access to certain occupations,
though they may be capable of doing that work as well
as the men.
• Skill development of women is not uniform across all
trades; participation by them remains confined to a
few labour-intensive occupations such as stitching,
teachers training, etc., which forces a majority of the
women to enter the labour market as unskilled labour.
4.44. Whenever equal opportunity has been given to
women in recruitments, equality in wage with the men
has been ensured, and an equal exposure in training has
been given, the participation by women in work has
improved. This is illustrated in ample measure in the
IT and enabled services sectors and in various other
professional services—legal, financial, commercial,
education and health.
4.45. In order to promote gender equity, steps have to
be taken to increase women’s participation in the labour
force. This has to be pursued through skill development,
labour policies and also the social security framework.
Significant outcomes can be expected only if the gender
issue is addressed through the planning initiatives across
all the ‘heads of development’ in the Plan, with requisite
lead from the ‘Women and Child Development’ Head.
Gender-budgeting has not, so far, received due attention.
4.46. The Eleventh Plan must seek to reduce the gender
differentials by pursuing (i) target shares for women
beneficiaries in the programmes for ‘Skill Development
initiatives’, ‘New initiatives at Social Security’, implementation
of regulations such as the Apprentices Act, 1961, the
Factories Act, the Building and Construction Workers
(Conditions of Service) Act, and better implementation
of The Maternity Benefit Act, 1976 and The Equal
Remuneration Act, 2000, and for guarding against sexual
harassment at the work place.
(v) Migrant Workers
4.47. Inter-State population migration rates for the intercensus
period (1991–2001) are given in Annexure 4.8. The
net out-migrant and in-migrant States are presented in
this Annexure. Large absorbers of migrants are the States
of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Goa. The large net out-migrant States are
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal,
Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,
and Tamil Nadu. Implicit in these population movements
is an origin-destination migration matrix of workers. The
numbers shown in the Annexure are inter-decadal and
are presumably much smaller than the shorter period
movements of migrant workers.
4.48. Migration itself is not an abnormal phenomenon
and is common all over the world since growth centres
which generate demand for labour often tend to
concentrate in certain areas. However, migrant workers
are the most vulnerable and exploited among the informal
sector workers, and have not received any attention in
the labour policy. In the States which are sources (origin)
of supply of migrant workers—and most of them migrate
to take up some labour-intensive, low-wage occupation—
an effective and large-scale effort for vocational training
in the labour intensive occupations is required. And such
a programme should be amenable to the special needs of
the entrants to informal labour markets. In the destination
States, the focus of public policy (including Labour
Policy) should be to improve the conditions under which
the bulk of these in-migrants live and work. And in so
far as the destination locations fail to provide certain basic
minimum conditions to the new in-migrants, it would be
better to restrain economic growth at such locations. In
the labour and employment sector, better implementation
of certain legislations pertaining to unorganized workers
can protect the interests of most of the migrant workers;
for example, the Building and Other Construction Workers
(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service)
Act, 1976; the Building and Other Construction Workers
(Cess) Act, 1976; the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923
and the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. An initiative has been
taken recently by the government (in September 2007)
with the introduction of ‘The Unorganized Workers’
Social Security Bill, 2007’ in the Rajya Sabha.
(vi) The Self-employed and Casual
Wage Employed
4.49. The self-employed and casual wage employed
account for 83% of the workforce. About 20–25 million
enter the labour force each year. Thus 17–21 million
will enter the labour market in the non-regular wage
employed category. The only strength of the self and the
casual employed is their occupational skill, and the
entrepreneurial skill to negotiate the price of labour put
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 75
in by them. At present, a majority of the new entrants in
this category have little or no education, not to speak of
any vocational training. And many of them migrate to
new locations, and to new occupations other than their
traditional ones. The skill development set up of the
government(s) has practically no space for them, at
present. The National Skills Mission, discussed in the
Chapter 5 on Skill Development and Training could make
a major difference by upgrading the skills of new entrants
to the informal sector.
EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS FOR THE
ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH PLANS
4.50. The Approach Paper for the Eleventh Plan had
projected an addition of 52 million to labour force in the
Plan period and had called for the creation of 70 million
employment opportunities. However, the projections of
labour growth have been revisited in view of the latest
population projections made available by the National
Commission on Population and work done by the Eleventh
Plan Working Group on Labour Force and Employment
Projections. The projected increase in labour force during
the Eleventh Plan period is now estimated at 45 million.
4.51. The employment prospects in the Eleventh Plan
period have also been revised and the results are presented
in Tables 4.15(A) and (B) with projections of labour force
and employment over a longer period, 2006–07 to 2016–
17, encompassing both the Eleventh and the Twelfth Plans.
4.52. As shown in Table 4.15(B), population growth is
expected to decelerate through this period with a
corresponding deceleration in labour force growth to
1.6% per year. However, although the labour force growth
is projected to decelerate, the absolute increase in the labour
force is very large. In fact, India’s demographic profile is
(’000)
Basis 1993–94* 2004–05* 2006–07 2011–12 2016–17
Population (age 0+) 893676 1092830 1128313 1207971 1283242
Population (age 15–59) 501760 652940 687120 760110 820570
Labour Force UPSS 378650 471250 492660 541840 586440
Labour Force CDS 334197 419647 438948 483659 524057
Employment Opportunities CDS 313931 384909 402238 460310 51820
Unemployed (’000) CDS 20266 34738 36710 23348 5853
Unemployment Rate (%) CDS 6.06 8.28 8.36 4.83 1.12
Note: * Actual estimates derived from NSS.
TABLE 4.15(A)
Population, Labour Force, Employment Projections
Growth rates (% per annum) and absolute increase (’000)
Basis 1993–94 to 2004–05 to 2006–07 to 2011–12 to
2004–05* 2006–07 2011–12 2016–17
Growth Rate in Population (age 0+) 1.85 1.43 1.37 1.22
Growth Rate in Population (age 15–59) 2.42 2.29 2.04 1.54
Growth Rate in Labour Force UPSS 2.01 1.99 1.92 1.59
Growth Rate in Labour Force CDS 2.09 2.02 1.96 1.62
Growth Rate in Employment Opportunities CDS 1.87 1.98 2.73 2.40
Addition to Population (’000) UPSS 199154 35483 79658 75271
Addition to Labour Force (’000) UPSS 92600 21410 49180 44600
Addition to Labour Force (’000) CDS 85450 19301 44711 40398
Addition to Employment Opportunities (’000) CDS 70978 17330 58072 57893
Note: * Actual estimates derived from NSS.
TABLE 4.15(B)
Projected Population, Labour Force, and Employment in Different Periods
76 Eleventh Five Year Plan
such that the expansion in the labour force in India will
be larger than in the industrialized countries, and even
China. As discussed in Chapter 5, the demographic
dividend could be a source of global competitive advantage
if it is combined with successful efforts at skill upgradation
and at expansion of employment opportunities.
4.53. The growth of total employment over the period has
been estimated on the basis of employment projections
for individual sectors which are then aggregated. These
sectoral employment projections are based on sectoral
GDP growth rates combined with assumptions about
employment elasticity moderated by the implicit growth
of productivity (see Annexure 4.2). The resulting
projections indicate that 58 million job opportunities will
be created in the Eleventh Plan period which exceeds the
projected addition to the labour force, leading to a
reduction in the unemployment rate to below 5%.
4.54. Over the longer period up to 2016–17, spanning
the Eleventh and Twelfth Plan periods, the additional
employment opportunities created are estimated at 116
million as compared to 71 million during the 11-year
period from 1993–94 to 2004–05 (Table 4.16). Since the
labour force will increase by 85 million in this period, a
substantial part of the surplus of labour force that exists
at the commencement of the Eleventh Plan could get
absorbed into gainful employment by the end of the
period. The unemployment rate at the end of the Twelfth
Plan period is projected to fall to a little over 1%.
4.55. There are important qualifications to these
projections which must be kept in mind, arising from
the limitation of employment elasticity as a projection
tool. The concept of employment elasticity is at best a
mechanical device to project employment on the basis of
projected growth of output and past relationships between
employment and output. These relationships can change
as a result of changing technology and change in real
wages. The labour force participation rate is also subject
to changes, especially because of possible changes in
female participation rates in urban areas associated with
advances in women’s education. For all these reasons, the
projected decline in the unemployment rate must be
treated with caution. It could well be that the projected
increase in labour demand induces greater labour supply
through an increase in participation rates and also higher
wages which moderate demand. However, the overall
picture of an acceleration in the rate of creation of job
opportunities and a reduction in unemployment rates is
relatively robust, if GDP growth takes place as projected.
SECTORAL EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS
4.56. The projected growth of employment in the Eleventh
Plan and beyond is decomposed into its sectoral components
in Table 4.16.
AGRICULTURE EMPLOYMENT
4.57. The agriculture sector has long been known to be
characterized by underemployment, which means that
with the same number of workers it is possible to generate
(CDS) (’000)
Industry Estimated Projected
1983 to 1993–94 to 2006–07 to 2006–07 to
1993–94 2004–05 2011–12 2016–17
(101/2 Years) (11 Years) (5 Years) (10 Years)
Agriculture 34900 8816 0 –3967
Mining and Quarrying 855 3 1 3
Manufacturing 7850 14834 11937 24516
Electricity, water, etc. 487 30 17 36
Construction 5260 10052 11922 26370
Trade, hotel, and restaurant 9190 22667 17397 34402
Transport, storage, and communication 3213 7639 9025 18764
Finance, insurance, real estate, and business services 1524 4312 3428 7472
Community, social, and personal services 11163 2624 4344 8369
Total 74442 70978 58072 115965
TABLE 4.16
Projected Increase in Number of Workers by Sector, 2007–12 and 2007–17
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 77
rural areas which can provide additional income for the
rural workforce by providing additional non-agricultural
employment.
EMPLOYMENT IN MANUFACTURING, CONSTRUCTION,
AND SERVICES
4.60. The Eleventh Plan should aim at significantly stepping
up growth in employment in other sectors, countering
the long-term trends observed in the past. Employment
in manufacturing should grow at 4% per annum against
the trend of growth in the preceding 11 years (1994–2005)
of 3.3% per annum. Employment in construction should
grow at 8.2% per annum against the trend of 5.9%
growth, and in the transport and communication sector
at 7.6% against the long-term trend of 5.3%.
4.61. These growth rates in employment in individual
sectors are achievable provided they are supported by
programmes for skill development, which will ensure
availability of the relevant skills without which the growth
of employment will probably choke. It is also necessary
to ensure a wider provision of social security and welfare
of unorganized workers, particularly in sectors such as
construction and transport. Initiatives for these areas are
elaborated in the Chapters on ‘Skill Development and
Training’ and ‘Nutrition and Social Safety Net’.
4.62. The sectors with prospects for high growth in
output, creation of new establishments and for creation
of new employment opportunities (direct as also
indirect) are:
Services
• IT-enabled Services
• Telecom Services
• Tourism
• Transport Services
• Health Care
• Education and Training
• Real Estate and Ownership of Dwellings
• Banking and Financial Services
• Insurance
• Retail Services
• Media and Entertainment Services
Other Sectors and Sub-Sectors
• Energy-Production, Distribution and Consumption
of Horticulture
more output. The projection for the Eleventh Plan assumes
that the projected doubling of the rate of agricultural
growth during the Eleventh Plan will be possible without
any increase in agricultural employment. Whereas
agriculture contributed 8.8 million job opportunities in
the 11-year period from 1993–94 to 2004–05, it is projected
to contribute no increase in the Eleventh Plan and a net
decrease of 4 million agricultural workers over the Twelfth
Plan period (2006–07 to 2016–17). This is a reasonable
projection considering that the number of main workers
in agriculture declined by about 1.8 crore between 1991
and 2001 and there has been a large increase in marginal
workers in agriculture during 1991–2001. Rising wage
differentials between the agriculture and non-agriculture
sectors are also very likely to shift labour out of agriculture,
and the continued growth into the Twelfth Plan period
would provide sufficient pull factor from non-agriculture
to encourage such a shift.
4.58. An alternative projection of agricultural employment
has also been made, applying the actual employment
elasticity (0.15) observed during 1993–94 to 2004–05 to
the projected growth of output over the perspective period
(2007–2017). This gives an estimate of employment in
agriculture for 2011–12, that is, about 9 million more than
in Table 4.16. In this projection there is positive growth of
employment in agriculture at 0.6% per year and
productivity growth is correspondingly lower at 3.4% per
annum. In this scenario, employment increase would be
9 million more, with unemployment correspondingly less
at only 14 million in 2011–12. However, this would be at
the cost of lower productivity growth and, therefore,
wages and incomes in agriculture and a larger proportion
of low quality jobs.
4.59. During the 11-year period 1994–2005, the pace of
increase in per worker GDP in agriculture was only 2.24%
per annum as compared to 4.35% per annum growth
in aggregate GDP per worker. (Annexure 4.2). During
the Eleventh Plan, also, the pace of productivity increase
being projected is lower for agriculture than for the
aggregate economy, irrespective of the scenario regarding
employment growth in agriculture. Since the main
employment issue in the agriculture sector is the increase
in farm labour income, and not the creation of a larger
number of employed workers, it would be appropriate
to work towards a strategy in which there is higher
growth in non-services employment opportunities in
78 Eleventh Five Year Plan
• Floriculture
• Construction of Buildings
• Infrastructure Projects Construction
Industry Groups
• Automotive
• Food Products
• Chemical Products
• Basic Metals
• Non-Metallic Mineral Products
• Plastic and Plastic Processing Industry
• Leather
• Rubber and Rubber Products
• Wood and Bamboo Products
• Gems and Jewellery
• Handicrafts
• Handlooms
• Khadi and Village Industries
The Services Sector
4.63. The services sector is currently the fastest growing
sector of the economy, and employment growth in the
sector has remained more than 5% per annum since
the 1990s as compared with the aggregate employment
growth at less than 2%. This sector has the unique
opportunity to grow due to its labour cost advantage,
reflecting one of the lowest salary and wage levels in the
world coupled with a rising share of working age
population. However, two types of initiatives are required:
(i) fostering the establishment of a viable size for delivery
of services based on labour intensive occupations. Only
in establishments of a reasonable size (in contrast to the
average enterprise size of 1.2 workers, as it exists today),
with a reasonable level of occupational specialization
and corresponding productivity and wage levels, is this
feasible; and (ii) a massive skill development effort, as
discussed later, for vocational training of the new entrants
to the labour force.
4.64. Planning initiatives in health, nutrition, care of
children, care of the aged, education, skill development
and expansion of social security services will create a large
potential for employment for delivery of these services.
Quantum jumps in the requirement of personnel, their
skill and in their composition—by gender, by social group
and by location in favour of the backward regions—will
arise from:
• A massive increase in Central funding of education
which is a four fold increase over the Tenth Plan in
constant price;
• Emphasis on the next phase of SSA on improvement
in the quality of education;
• Reaching these services to the districts having a
concentration of SC, ST, and minorities;
• Rapid expansion in the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme
to cover 60 million additional children at the upper
primary level by 2008–09; and
• Enrolling one crore children in vocational education–
skill development streams.
4.65. Already, a substantial increase in the number of
teachers has been made, which will continue further.
During the three-year period of 2002–03 to 2005–06, 0.285
million para teachers were recruited, of which 0.27 million
are in the rural areas (NUEPA; Progress Towards UEE—
Analytical Report 2005–06; Table E 20). And much of this
expansion has occurred in the low per capita income
States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan,
and Uttar Pradesh. Further, the expansion of mid-day
meals programme, will require a substantial step up in
the personnel required for delivery of such services.
4.66. The Central Government has recently announced
an expansion in social security services such as: (i) Old
age pension to all citizens, (ii) Life and disability cover
against injury or death to either the head of, or to one
earning member of each poor family; and (iii) Health
insurance, so that the poor do not have to bear a high cost
of medical care. These would require a commensurate
expansion in the requirement of a variety of professionally
trained and skilled personnel by the institutions that
(i) cover risk; (ii) identify, issue and update the identity
of the beneficiaries (smart cards); (iii) design specific
schemes for the target groups and market the same;
(iv) render medical services; or (v) reach out to the
prospective beneficiaries. Most of the beneficiaries of the
new Central initiatives would be the aged, the poor and
the landless, and thus vulnerable to vagaries of the market.
The institutional base that exists at present for delivery
of the kinds of services, discussed here, is quite insensitive
to the special needs of the prospective beneficiaries, and
breeds ‘exclusion’. While the beneficiaries could be (and
should be) expected to make a contribution, howsoever
small, to participate in the scheme, the personnel that are
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 79
hired for rendering these services have to be trained to
reach out to the prospective beneficiaries, in a manner that
is responsible and transparent, and thus evokes her/his
confidence to participate in the scheme. Moreover, some
token contribution to become a member of the scheme
is essential to empower these beneficiaries to lay a claim
to the services that especially allocated funds by the
Central Government for their benefit.
(i) EXPANSION OF IT SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS
4.67. Village kiosks will require expansion of IT personnel
deployment across the rural areas of the country, in
particular to facilitate the expansion of an IT enabled
governance set-up. Such improvements are essential for
keeping pace with the demand for public services that
will guide the diversification of the economy away from
agriculture and towards the secondary and tertiary
sectors, duly supported by: (i) investments in industrial
infrastructure, (ii) creation of institutional infrastructure
in the rural areas, and (iii) for fostering integration of
rural markets with the rest of the economy. These would
require manifold expansion in a variety of matching
services to be delivered by the local governments and by
the village Panchayats, and that would be feasible only if
the governance set-up at the local level is overhauled and
handled in an IT-friendly mode.
(ii) PERSONAL SERVICES
4.68. The increase in the income of middle-class households
in the high growth phase entails a spurt in consumption
of personal services related to attire, appearance, baby
care, health upkeep, personal drivers, security, care for the
aged dependents, household governance and management,
and so on. And such personal services have to be delivered
by professionally trained, hired personnel of formal
establishments, quite distinct from the earlier one-person
operations. But in this area, a major effort at nurturing
the right type of serving establishments at reasonable fees,
training and certification of their personnel who can earn
a reasonable income and thereby keep themselves above
exploitation by the well off and informal employers, by
way of access to the social security arrangements, is
required. So far, services of a reasonable standard have by
and large remained confined to the few who have a very
high level of personal income, leaving the average urban
consumer of such services to the vagaries of a market driven
by ‘short-life’, one or two-person establishments, thriving
on profits from cheap and untrained young in-migrants
to high-income locations. The local administrations,
including the labour administrations, have not handled
the issue in a labour–employment–income perspective,
and have generally ignored the problems arising due to
the law and order enforcement agencies.
EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR POLICY
4.69. The employment strategy for the Eleventh Plan
must ensure rapid growth of employment while also
ensuring an improvement in the quality of employment.
While self employment will remain an important
employment category in the foreseeable future—it
accounted for 58% of all employment in 2004–05—there
is need to increase the share of regular employees in total
employment. As shown in Annexure 4.3(C), this category
has increased from 17% of total employment in 1983 to
18% in 2004–05. It should be the focus of policy to
achieve a substantial increase in the share of regular
employment with a matching reduction in the share of
casual employment which at present is as high as 23%.
4.70. The above analysis implies that the success of
labour policy should be seen in terms of the number of
regular wage employment opportunities based on some
form of a written contract between the employer and the
employee, that is, an increase in the number of ‘formal’
jobs. The potential for creation of formal employment
can be fully utilized by making appropriate changes in
rules and procedures. It is often said that one of the
obstacles to growth of formal employment in the
organized sector is the prevalence of excessively rigid
labour laws which discourage such employment. Steps
that should be taken for a greater flexibility in labour
laws are discussed in the Chapter on Industry. Broadly, it
is necessary to review existing laws and regulations with
a view to making changes which would:
• encourage the corporate sector to move into more
labour-intensive sectors
• facilitate the expansion of employment and output of
the unorganized enterprises that operate in the labourintensive
sectors.
4.71. At present, the incentives and subsidies are so
designed as to strongly penalize entrepreneurs for
crossing a threshold size from a micro/small to a medium/
80 Eleventh Five Year Plan
large unit. The excise and other taxation policies need to
be reviewed in this perspective.
4.72. Changes in policies also need to be examined in
regard to:
• Linking incentives with the outcomes measured in
terms of employment. For example, incentives are
given to a wide range of production activities primarily
with the objective of promoting employment and
income of workers engaged in such activities. However,
such incentives are hardly ever calibrated against the
benefits realized in terms of employment and wages.
• Regular wage employment, that is, formal employment,
merits fiscal incentives. Such incentives already
exist at a limited scale for the larger establishments,
but are so designed as to make it difficult for medium
and small establishments to benefit from these.
4.73. Changing labour laws is a sensitive issue and it is
necessary to build a consensus. However, there are several
changes short of hire and fire which should not present
problems. These include:
• The locations and production activities that have a
high potential for employment creation merit a
differential treatment.
• Employment of women must be encouraged ensuring,
inter alia, the special needs that they may have by
virtue of change in working hours (night shifts, for
example) or the requirements of the family, for example,
child care.
• Contract labour in the domestic tariff area merits
encouragement, provided commensurate steps are
taken to increase social security
• Monitoring the implementation of labour laws, that
is, the reporting system should be simplified and be
permitted in an IT-friendly mode.
4.74. Even as steps are taken to increase the volume of
formal or regular employment, it is also necessary to take
steps to improve the quality of employment in the
unorganized sector. NCEUS in its August 2007 Report has
summarized, in the form of a 13-point Action Programme,
the main recommendations for the workers of Enterprises
in the Unorganized/Informal Sector. These are presented
in Box 4.2.
4.75. Unorganized sector enterprises mostly hire most
workers who get released, or relocated, from crop
agriculture (due to the reasons discussed earlier), and
seek wage employment in the manufacturing or services
sector. Any significant improvement in their income, and
quality of employment, is feasible only if the institutional
environment in the labour market makes it feasible for
the formal sector to reach out to such workers on a
decentralized basis rather than through a centralized plan
programme. The large coverage (in terms of absolute
numbers) through Provident Fund (43 million), Employee
State Insurance (33.0 million) a variety of welfare funds
(5.0 million), for beedi workers, for example) has been
possible because the institutional framework created
through the various Acts5 (P.F., E.S.I., Beedi Workers
Welfare Fund, etc.) recognized a relationship of those
employed on regular wage, with either the employer, or
the specific formal commodity market that provides work
to (that is, absorbs the output of labour put in by) the
unorganized enterprises’ workers.
4.76. As already argued, the creation of a formal
relationship between the worker and the hiring
establishment, in the regular wage employment mode, is
a critical factor in improving the quality of employment
of the workers hired by the unorganized enterprises. In
this context, the work being done by NCEUS6 on: (i) the
‘employment strategy’ to be pursued in respect of, and
through the, unorganized enterprises, (ii) the regime of
labour regulations to attract the unorganized enterprise
to give a formal recognition to the multitudes of workers
hired by them, and (iii) to enable them to gain access to
‘social security’, is of paramount importance.
5Of course, many of these organizations have to reorient their pattern
of working to the new realities of the market for wage labour in which
the role of public sector is diminishing and the average number of workers
hired by the private enterprises is reducing consequent upon changes in
technology leading to improvement in the productivity of labour.
6The relevant terms of reference of NCEUS are:
• Suggest elements of an employment strategy focusing on the
informal sector;
• Review Indian labour laws, consistent with labour rights, and with
the requirements of expanding growth of industry and services,
particularly in the informal sector, and improving productivity
and competitiveness; and
• Review the social security system available for labour in the
informal sector, and make recommendations for expanding their
coverage.
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 81
Box 4.2
A Thirteen Point Action Plan Suggested by the NCEUS for Employment in the Unorganized Sector
A. Protective Measures for Workers
1. Ensuring Minimum Conditions of Work in the Non-agricultural and Agricultural Sectors:
Two bills, for agricultural workers and non-agricultural workers, that specify the minimum conditions of work,
including a statutory national minimum wage for all workers
2. Minimum Level of Social Security:
A universal national minimum social security scheme, as part of a comprehensive legislation covering life, health and
disability, maternity and old age pension to protect the workers in the unorganized sectors.
B. Package of Measures for the Marginal and Small Farmers
3. Special Programme for Marginal and Small Farmer:
Revival of the targeted programme focusing on small and minor farmers, with an initial thrust in the areas wherein the
existing yield gap is also considered high. A special agency or a coordinating mechanism should be set up if required.
4. Emphasis on Accelerated Land and Water Management:
Immediate priority to, and significant up-scaling of, programmes for land and water management.
Revision of the priority sector landing policy to provide a quota for micro and small enterprises.
5. Credit for Marginal/Small Farmers:
RBI to monitor, separately, credit to this segment, expansion in the outreach of credit institutions in rural areas and
a credit guarantee fund to obviate the need for collateral by the marginal/small farmers in accessing the institutional
credits. A 10% share for small and marginal farmers in the priority sector credit (Table below)
6. Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission:
The Central government to lay guidelines and provide 75:25 assistance for setting up State-level Farmers’ Debt Relief
Commissions, in the States experiencing agrarian distress—natural or market related.
C. Measures to Improve Growth of the Non-agricultural Sector
7. Improve Credit Flow to the Non-agricultural Sector:
Percent Sector and Sub-Sector/Purpose
18 10% for small and marginal farmers; 8% for other farmers
10 4% for micro enterprises with capital investment (other than land and building) up to Rs 0.5 million
and 6% for other micro and small enterprises
12 12% on loans up to Rs 0.5 million to the socio-economically weaker sections for housing, education,
professions, and so on.
40 Total priority sectors lending
8. Encouraging SHGs and MFIs for Livelihood Promotion:
Measures to encourage growth of micro finance and SHGs in poor States and in the backward areas
9. Creation of a National Fund (NAFUS):
Rs 5000 crore initial corpus for an exclusive statutory agency to take care of requirements of micro and small enterprises
in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors that are presently not reached by SIDBI and NABARD.
10. Up-scaling Cluster Development through Growth Poles:
Twenty-five growth poles in the traditional industries clusters with incentives at par with SEZs
D. Measures to Expand Employment and Improve Employability
11. Expand Employment through Strengthening Self-employment Programmes:
Rationalization and strengthening of the four major self-employment generation programmes with 5 million annual
employment generation target.
12. Universalize and Strengthen National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA):
Extension of NREGA Programmes to all districts.
13. Increase Employability through Skill Development:
On-job-training cum employment-assurance programme to provide incentive of Rs 5000 per person to any employer
willing to provide one-year training on job skill enhancement.
82 Eleventh Five Year Plan
(million)
Status Estimated Projected
1993–94 1999–2000 2004–05 2006–07 2011–12 2016–17
Population
Age 0+ 893.68 1005.05 1092.83 1128.31 1207.97 1283.24
Age 15–59 501.76 572.23 652.94 687.12 760.11 820.57
Labour Force
UPSS
Age 0+ 378.65 408.35 471.25 492.66 541.84 586.44
Age 15–59 337.71 369.22 431.95 451.70 496.65 535.20
CDS
Age 0+ 334.20 364.88 419.65 438.95 483.66 524.06
Age 15–59 298.95 330.78 385.87 403.75 444.72 479.70
Employment
UPSS
Age 0+ 371.12 398.93 459.72
Age 15–59 330.34 360.04 420.74
CDS
Age 0+ 313.93 338.19 384.91 402.24 460.31 518.20
Age 15–59 279.88 305.70 352.92
Unemployed
UPSS
Age 0+ 7.53 9.41 11.53
Age 15–59 7.37 9.17 11.21
CDS
Age 0+ 20.27 26.69 34.74 36.71 23.35 5.86
Age 15–59 19.07 25.08 32.95
Unemployment rate (%)
UPSS
Age 0+ 1.99 2.30 2.45
Age 15–59 2.18 2.48 2.60
CDS
Age 0+ 6.06 7.31 8.28 8.36 4.83 1.12
Age 15–59 6.38 7.58 8.54
ANNEXURE 4.1
Population, Labour Force, Employment, and Unemployment (1993–94 to 2016–17)
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 83
(%)
Industry 1983 to 1993–94 1993–94 to 2004–05 2006–07 to 2016–17
1. Agriculture 1.03 2.24 4.57
2. Minining and Quarrying 1.66 4.95 5.64
3. Manufacturing 2.29 3.31 7.27
4. Electricity, gas and water supply 3.70 5.46 7.51
5. Construction –1.43 1.45 5.56
6. Trade, hotels and restaurants 1.06 2.69 5.68
7. Transport, storage and communication 2.06 4.94 9.77
8. Finance, insurance, real estate and business services 2.79 –0.40 4.26
9. Community, social and personal services 1.57 5.90 6.11
Total 2.29 4.35 7.82
ANNEXURE 4.2
Annual Growth Rate of GDP per Worker
(’000)
Category Male Female Persons
1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Self-Employed 64.62 62.50 59.83 62.91 61.81 60.91 59.51 66.51 63.83 62.05 59.74 63.95
Regular Employees 11.50 9.52 10.25 10.25 4.45 4.55 4.88 5.12 9.52 8.10 8.72 8.76
Casual Labour 23.89 27.92 29.92 26.84 33.74 34.55 35.61 28.37 26.65 29.85 31.53 27.29
All 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Estimated Number 135203 170677 179866 197391 52695 68075 71357 80685 187898 238752 251223 278076
of Workers (’000)
Note: Derived from NSS reports on employment and unemployment situation in India.
ANNEXURE 4.3(A)
Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Category of Employment (CDS)—Rural India
(’000)
Category Male Female Persons
1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Self-Employed 40.96 42.57 42.24 45.86 39.09 40.83 41.07 43.94 40.66 42.27 42.05 45.50
Regular Employees 46.68 43.78 43.47 42.39 35.72 36.67 40.18 43.18 44.87 42.54 42.92 42.54
Casual Labour 12.35 13.65 14.29 11.75 25.19 22.50 18.75 12.88 14.47 15.19 15.03 11.96
All 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Estimated Number 43067 62103 72376 87027 8523 13076 14595 19806 51590 75179 86971 106833
of Workers (’000)
Note: Derived from NSS reports on employment and unemployment situation in India.
ANNEXURE 4.3(B)
Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Category of Employment (CDS)—Urban India
84 Eleventh Five Year Plan
(’000)
Category Male Female Persons
1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004– 1983 1993– 1999– 2004–
94 2000 05 94 2000 05 94 2000 05
Self-Employed 58.91 57.18 54.79 57.69 58.64 57.67 56.38 62.06 58.84 57.31 55.19 58.83
Regular Employees 20.00 18.66 19.78 20.08 8.81 9.72 10.87 12.62 17.14 16.35 17.52 18.13
Casual Labour 21.10 24.16 25.43 22.22 32.55 32.60 32.75 25.32 24.03 26.34 27.29 23.03
All 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Estimated Number 178270 232780 252242 284418 61218 81151 85952 100491 239488 313931 338194 384909
of Workers (’000)
Note: Derived from NSS reports on employment and unemployment situation in India.
ANNEXURE 4.3(C)
Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Category of Employment (CDS)—All India
(per 1000) (UPSS basis)
Condition of Employment Rural Urban All
No written job contract 592 592 592
Not eligible for Paid Leave 480 455 464
Neither written job contract nor eligible for paid leave 712 549 630
Not eligible for Social Security Benefit1 569 535 547
Paid a Monthly Salary 857 900 884
Non-existence of Union/Associations 513 541 531
Sample Workers 17033 26385 43418
Source: Derived from NSS 61st round (2004–05).
1Coverage under any of the Schemes-Provident Fund, PPF with employer contribution, Gratuity, Health care and Maternity benefits.
ANNEXURE 4.4
Conditions of Employment of Regular Wage/Salaried Workers—2004–05
Type of Enterprise Distribution of Workers
Proprietory 378
Partnership 45
Employer household 49
Subtotal 472
Govt./Public sector 333
Public/Pvt.Ltd. Co. 127
Society/Trust 38
Subtotal 498
Others 18
N.R. 12
All 1000
Sample persons 43418
Source: Table 1, Appendix A, of NSS Report of 61st Round, No. 519.
ANNEXURE 4.5
Distribution of Regular Wage/Salaried Workers by Type of Enterprise
Employment Perspective and Labour Policy 85
(% per annum)
Rural Male Rural Female
Category 1983 1993–94 1993–94 1999–2000 1983 1993–94 1993–94 1999–2000
to to to to to to to to
1993–94 2004–05 1999–2000 2004–2005 1993–94 2004–05 1999–2000 2004–2005
Casual Labour in Public Works 2.28 3.81 3.83 3.15 4.10 3.83 5.03 2.01
Casual Labour in Agriculture 2.75 2.18 2.79 1.21 3.07 2.10 2.93 0.93
Casual Labour in Non Agriculture 2.38 2.34 3.69 0.62 4.08 3.47 5.06 1.32
Casual Labour in all Activities 2.55 2.78 3.59 1.51 3.13 2.40 3.19 1.21
ANNEXURE 4.6
Growth of Average Daily Wage Earnings in Rural India (at 1993–94 price)
(’000)
Population 1999–2000 2004–05
Segment Self Regular Casual Total Self Regular Casual Total
Employed Wage/Salaried Labour Employed Wage/Salaried Labour
Rural Persons 32762 2457 41466 76686 33139 2273 34125 69537
(19.39) (11.62) (36.34) (25.21) (16.08) (9.30) (30.34) (20.27)
Urban Persons 9387 4201 7531 21120 12141 5302 7321 24765
(23.60) (11.10) (43.96) (22.29) (22.87) (11.49) (41.90) (21.22)
All Males 27728 5545 31602 64875 29135 5863 27388 62386
(19.68) (11.18) (36.77) (23.47) (17.17) (10.24) (31.85) (19.94)
All Females 14421 1114 17396 32931 16145 1713 14058 31916
(21.27) (11.84) (38.41) (26.88) (18.03) (12.83) (31.99) (21.74)
All Persons 42150 6658 48998 97806 45280 7576 41446 94302
(20.19) (11.29) (37.34) (24.52) (17.47) (10.73) (31.90) (20.51)
Notes: 1. Figures in brackets are the proportion of Poor workers to total workers in that category.
2. UPSS basis.
ANNEXURE 4.7
The Working Poor in India by their Gender, Location, and Category of Employment, 1999–2000 and 2004–05
86 Eleventh Five Year Plan
(%)
States/UTs Male Female Person
1. Andhra Pradesh –0.03 –0.03 –0.03
2. Assam –0.06 –0.09 –0.07
3. Bihar –0.39 –0.17 –0.28
4. Chhattisgarh –0.06 –0.07 –0.06
5. Gujarat 0.22 0.09 0.16
6. Haryana 0.40 0.35 0.37
7. Himachal Pradesh 0.04 –0.06 –0.01
8. Jharkhand –0.08 –0.02 –0.05
9. Karnataka 0.04 0.00 0.02
10. Kerala –0.08 –0.08 –0.08
11. Madhya Pradesh –0.01 0.00 –0.01
12. Maharashtra 0.37 0.21 0.29
13. Orissa –0.10 –0.04 –0.07
14. Punjab 0.20 0.07 0.14
15. Rajasthan –0.08 –0.05 –0.06
16. Tamil Nadu –0.08 –0.07 –0.08
17. Uttranchal –0.03 –0.06 –0.04
18. Uttar Pradesh –0.25 –0.16 –0.21
19. West Bengal –0.04 –0.04 –0.04
20. Delhi 1.93 1.57 1.77
21. Jammu and Kashmir –0.04 –0.06 –0.05
22. Arunachal Pradesh 0.73 0.57 0.65
23. Manipur –0.16 –0.13 –0.14
24. Meghalaya 0.09 0.04 0.07
25. Mizoram –0.16 –0.35 –0.25
26. Nagaland 0.05 –0.41 –0.17
27. Sikkim 0.26 0.16 0.21
28. Tripura 0.02 0.02 0.02
29. Andaman and Nicobar 0.80 0.66 0.74
30. Chandigarh 2.15 1.78 1.98
31. Dadra and Nagar Haveli 4.29 1.90 3.12
32. Daman and Diu 6.15 1.88 4.05
33. Lakshadweep 1.04 0.20 0.63
34. Pondicherry 0.74 0.94 0.84
35. Goa 0.83 0.59 0.71
36. NE States 0.07 –0.03 0.02
ANNEXURE 4.8
Net Migrants Rate (1991–2001)
