India narrowing gap with world leader China on steel sector jobs: Study

At 30% of global steel industry jobs, India is only six percentage points behind China's 36%, but it is behind in terms of the sector's contribution to GDP

India ranks next only to China to profit from jobs supported or facilitated by the steel industry. A report published by Oxford Economics for World Steel Association (WSA) shows India, with 30 per cent of global jobs in steel industry, is steadily closing in on the gap with China which tops the rankings, with a 36 per cent share.

The findings are based on the study for 2017 when the steel industry engendered 96 million jobs.

“Our 'narrow' approach assumes that the share of work facilitated by steel equates to the share of steel in each customer’s total purchases of external inputs. By this metric, we estimate that the steel industry facilitated a further $1.2 trillion of value-added output in 2017, and supported an additional 49 million jobs around the world”, the study titled 'The Role of Steel Manufacturing in the Global Economy' said.

“Combining this finding with our earlier results, we calculate that the total value-added contribution either supported or facilitated by steel in 2017 was US $2.9 trillion. Equivalent to 3.8 per cent of global GDP that year, this activity is estimated to have supported a total of 96 million jobs”, it added.

By country of activity, China accounted for 36 per cent of the steel industry’s annual contribution to global GDP, followed by the US for 11 per cent, and Japan with nine per cent.

On the broad approach, the total value-added contribution of the steel industry was $8.2 trillion—equivalent to 10.7 per cent of global GDP that year (2017) —and that it supported 259 million jobs, the study has pointed out.

Under this broad approach, the report found that China accounts for some 31 per cent of steel’s value-added contribution, the US follows with 11 per cent, and Japan at 10 per cent. But the pattern of steel-related employment by country is quite different, with China accounting for 45 per cent of the global total, followed by India with 16 per cent.

“The Worldsteel study differentiates itself from the existing national studies by taking a global approach. Trade and the scope of impact is not limited to national borders and takes into consideration global supply chains and steel using sectors. It underlines the complexity of the role which the steel industry plays in the global economy. The overall impact of the steel industry is US$2.9 trillion value added, and 96 million jobs globally”, Eldar Askerov, head, Strategic Studies, worldsteel wrote in his blog.