Share of flexi workers rose to 70% from 20% in 5 years, says report

The share of flexi workers in India's workforce rose sharply to 70 per cent in 2025 from 20 per cent in 2020, while the proportion of permanent workers declined, an ISF report said

The share of flexi workers in India's total workforce rose to 70 per cent in 2025 from 20 per cent in 2020, shows a report by the India Staffing Federation (ISF), released on Tuesday.

 

On the other hand, during this period, the share of permanent workers fell from 80 per cent to 30 per cent.

 

This comes at a time when the government is striving to expand social security coverage for India’s workforce and promote formal employment.

 

In 2024, the share of flexi workers was 64 per cent while the share of permanent workers was 36 per cent, according to ISF’s Flexi Employment Social Impact Report 2026.

   

 A flexi worker works for a company under flexible arrangements —such as short-term contracts, part-time hours, project-based roles, or through an agency — without a permanent employment relationship.

 

This also includes students working in part-time roles.

 

“Flexi staffing witnessed a 6 per cent rise in growth among other formats of employment. This implies the growing demand in the flexi employment formats over preference for others,” said the report.

 

According to the report, 73 per cent of the flexi workforce in 2025 were men, while women make up 27 per cent. The share of men has fallen from 79 per cent in 2020, while that of women has gone up from 21 per cent in 2020. The study said that 4 per cent of these workers are students. 

 

 There were 220,000 first-time entrants in the flexi workforce in 2025, said the report. 

 

Age distribution of the workers showed that 40 per cent of the flexi workforce belonged to the age range of 25-30 in 2025, while 31 per cent were between 31 and 45 years. 

 

 The share of people between 25 and 30 years has fallen from 45 per cent in 2020, after peaking in 2023 at 51 per cent. Notably, the share of 31 to 45-year-olds has jumped to 31 per cent from 24 per cent in 2024. 

 

“High skills continued to drive the employment market for flexi staffing workforce at 49 per cent. Low skills considerably witnessed a jump in demand in FY25, as the manufacturing and delivery industries opened more opportunities for first time job market entrants in 2025,” said the report.