87% Workers Earning Less Than Rs.10,000, Is India Really Growing?

In the era of inflation when it is difficult for most of the people of the nation to arrange their day meal, how disheartening it is know that 92% female and 82% male workers are earning less than 10,000 per month. The Azim Premji University released a new report which found that while wages in most sectors in the country have been increasing at an inflation-adjusted rate of 3% annually since last 15 years; majority of the working population still makes less than the minimum salary as recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission. The report titled ‘State of working India’, found that 92% of female and 82% of male workers earn less than Rs 10,000 a month. Amit Basole (lead author of the report and faculty at the Azim Premji University) said “If you earn more than Rs 50,000 a month, you are in the top 1% of the (national) work-force (by earnings). The report also shows that the rate of unemployment among the educated youth has reached 16% which the highest in recent times. To this Basole said “Because of a rise in education, the youth is willing to hold-out for an employment opportunity that they think is commensurate to their education.” The country has observed the great education transformation in recent years but there has been an inability to create the comparable jobs. The report identifies the trend of ‘jobless growth’. Currently, there has been a 10% increase in GDP results in less than 1% increase in employment. The report aimed to provide quantifiable insights and data about employment and labor issues by sourcing information from many different official surveys like the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy statistics, National Sample Survey, and the annual survey of the Labor Bureau, along with field studies. Manufacturing sector shows a positive trend with the revival in jobs. There has been an increase in jobs in terms of more contract and trainee work rather than permanent jobs. The report also shows that labour productivity has grown six times in the last thirty years. Worker wages have grown a mere 1.5 times whereas managerial wages grew 3 times during this period. Caste and gender disparities remained high but the gender earnings gap is reducing over time, the report noted. The report has raised a question for policy makers that why their policies are not being implemented? We hope to see better trends in future.