Statsguru: From poverty to paycheque, here is India's missing link

India's poverty declines, but low wages and limited regular jobs remain key challenges

India is home to around one-sixth of the world’s population and one of the largest youth populations. That makes the country central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 1: “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”. The past few years have brought significant progress, but they have also exposed a gap between escaping poverty and earning a decent living. India’s extreme poverty rate fell from 27.1 per cent in 2011 to 2.6 per cent in 2023, about one-fourth of the global rate. Even so, India trails the other large economies. Multidimensional poverty has also fallen, but it remains higher in rural India, where it is more than three times the urban rate. 

More Indians entered the labour force and found work at a faster rate in recent years than they did in 2017-18. This has led to a lower unemployment rate over this period, especially among rural women.   However, this progress has not translated into a corresponding increase in women being hired in regular jobs. Instead, more women are being classified as self-employed. A recent Oxfam report says  this category covers everything from running a shop to working without pay on a family farm.  Nor have the gains brought higher real earnings, except for casual workers. Compared with 2017-18, real monthly earnings in 2023-24 were 9.1 per cent lower for self-employed men and 32.2 per cent lower for self-employed women.