Statsguru: Six charts explain the state of organised employment in India

The first Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) by the Labour Bureau in many years shows the situation of Indian workers in establishments employing more than 10 people, or organised firms. Such an exercise was carried out till 2017, and this is the first report with updated definitions and several modifications. 

It shows that about 31 million Indians work in such organised firms, with nearly 13 million in the manufacturing sector (chart 1).

 

Though it is said that construction is one of the top employers in the country after agriculture, this is not the case in the organised space. Among organised establishments, education is the number two employer. This makes sense because most school teachers and support staff are on payroll, while many workers in construction may be infor­mal, which did not get captured here. 

Women account for nearly a third of organised employment in India.

 

Though the 2021 report is probably not comparable to previous reports, chart 2 compares — to get an indicative understanding — how the share of women has moved in major sectors.

It shows that women have lost ground in health and education. 

Chart 3 illustrates how education still remains a challenge. About a third of organised employees in India have not gone beyond secondary education. Only a few sectors such as IT and financial services have a higher share of graduates. 

Despite this low profile on education, imparting of skills is done by only one in five organised firms (chart 4).

Some of them do not have in-house training facilities. 

The QES also throws light on the impact of Covid-19 on workers in organised firms to some extent.

chart

chart

 

Chart 5 reveals that the total workforce in April 2021 was actually lower than pre-Covid times. After the workforce shrank during the nationwide lockdown of April-June 2020, employment had not recovered fully a year later. In that, a substantial proportion of employees saw their incomes fall during the lockdown. The QES, however, does not have data on whether incomes rose in 2021 (chart 6).

StatsGuru is a weekly feature. Every Monday, Business Standard guides you through the numbers you need to know to make sense of the headlines