Increasing urban development and labour flexibility are key to creating jobs, sustaining growth and reducing poverty, World Bank said in a report.
According to the ‘World Development Report 2013: Jobs’ released on Monday, part time work is on the rise in India.
“Medium-size businesses are not growing and the share of informal workers in organised firms is up from 32 per cent in 2000 to 68 per cent in 2010,” it said. The report said with the working age population increasing by seven million people each year in India, accelerating urban development and increasing labour flexibility were key to creating jobs in more productive activities, thus, sustaining growth and reducing poverty.
The number of temporary workers in India grew more than 10 per cent in 2009 and 18 per cent in 2010. More unusual is the increase in its number of informal workers in the organised sector — from 32 per cent in 2000 to 68 per cent in 2010. The report underlined on the need for strong urbanisation policy for India in creating better jobs.
The report also emphasised the need for India to stay within the efficiency “plateau” of labour laws where labour policies are not too stringent and allow the creation of more wage employment, especially in cities and in activities connected to global markets.