The Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled by the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament stated that while the pandemic impacted both labour markets, and employment ratios, now with sustained effort in the last few years, coupled with quick response after the pandemic, and the world’s largest vaccination drive being undertaken in India, labour markets have recovered beyond pre-COVID levels, in both urban and rural areas, as observed in supply-side and demand-side employment data. In 2019 and 2020, 29 Central Labour Laws were amalgamated, rationalised, and simplified into four Labour Codes, viz., the Code on Wages, 2019 (August 2019), the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code, 2020 (September 2020). According to the survey, rules made under the Codes have been entrusted to Central Government, State Government and at the appropriate level. As of 13 December 2022, 31 States also have pre published the draft rules under the Code on Wages, 28 States under Industrial Relations Code, 28 States under Code on Social Security, and 26 States under Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions Code. Labour markets have recovered beyond pre-COVID levels, in both urban and rural areas, with unemployment rates falling from 5.8 per cent in 2018-19 to 4.2 per cent in 2020-21. As per Usual Status in Periodic Labour Force Survey(PLFS), the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and unemployment rate (UR) in PLFS 2020-21(July-June) have improved for both males and females in both rural and urban areas compared to PLFS 2019-20 and 2018-19. The Labour Force Participation Rate for males has gone up to 57.5 per cent in 2020-21, as compared to 55.6 per cent in 2018-19. Female Labour Force Participation Rate has gone up to 25.1 per cent in 2020-21 from 18.6 per cent in 2018-19. There is a notable rise in Rural Female Labour Force Participation Rate from 19.7 per cent in 2018-19 to 27.7 per cent in 2020-21. According to broad status in employment, the share of self-employed increased and that of regular wage/salaried workers declined in 2020-21 vis-à-vis 2019-20, driven by trend in both rural and urban areas. The share of casual labour declined slightly, driven by rural areas. As per the Economic Survey, based on the industry of work, the share of workers engaged in agriculture rose marginally from 45.6 per cent in 2019-20 to 46.5 per cent in 2020-21, the share of manufacturing declined faintly from 11.2 per cent to 10.9 per cent, the share of construction increased from 11.6 per cent to 12.1 per cent, and share of trade, hotel & restaurants declined from 13.2 per cent to 12.2 per cent, over the same period. The Economic Survey highlights measurement issues in calculating Female Labour Force Participation Rate. The common narrative of Indian women’s low LFPR misses the reality of working females integral to the economy of the household and the country. Measurement of employment through the survey design and content can make a significant difference to final LFPR estimates, and this matter more for measuring female LFPR than male LFPR. The survey states that there is a need to broaden the horizon of measuring work, which constitutes the whole universe of productive activities alongside employment, especially for women. According to the latest ILO standards, limiting productive work to labour force participation is narrow and only measures work as a market product. It does not include the value of women’s unpaid domestic work, which can be seen as expenditure-saving work such as collecting firewood, cooking, tutoring children, etc, and contributes significantly to the household’s standard of living. The Survey recommends that a wholesome measurement of “work” may require improved quantification through redesigned surveys. That said, there is further significant scope to nullify the gender-based disadvantages to enable free choice of women to join the labour market. Ecosystem services, including affordable creches, career counselling/handholding, lodging and transportation, etc., can further help unlock the gender dividend for inclusive and broad-based growth. The PLFS conducted by the MoSPI at a quarterly level for urban areas is available till July-September 2022. The data shows an improvement in all the key labour market indicators in the quarter ending September 2022 both sequentially and over the last year, as per the Current Weekly Status. The labour participation rate increased to 47.9 per cent in July-September 2022 from 46.9 per cent a year ago, while the worker-population ratio strengthened from 42.3 per cent to 44.5 per cent in the same period. This trend highlights that the labour markets have recovered from the COVID impact.
