Where Indians work ⁠— seven charts that show you the employment map of the world’s sixth largest economy

Advertisement
Where Indians work ⁠— seven charts that show you the employment map of the world’s sixth largest economy
India has added 7.1 million new jobs in the last seven years in the nine sectors, outside agriculture, that employ the maximum number of people, according to the first ever Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) report released by the Narendra Modi government, on September 27.

The nine sectors -- manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurants, information technology/business process outsourcing (IT/BPO) and financial services, covered in the survey account for about 85% of total jobs in establishments with ten or more workers in India.

In terms of total jobs, India had 30 million individuals employed in these nine sectors, as of April 2021. As per World Bank data, India had a total of 472 million people employed in 2020.

Here are the key highlights from the survey:
Advertisement

Manufacturing sector employed the most

Manufacturing sector employed the most
BI India

Two out of five people surveyed are employed in the manufacturing sector. Education stands second with half the strength.

27% less jobs due to the pandemic

27% less jobs due to the pandemic
BI India

In terms of the COVID-19 impact, employment fell in 27% of the workplaces due to the pandemic. Despite lesser jobs, eight out of every 10 workers got full wages during the lockdown period (March 25-June 30, 2020), while 16% saw their salaries reduced, and 3% were denied any wages.

In the health and financial services sector, however, nine out of every 10 workers were paid in full.

Advertisement

IT/BPO sector jobs more than double

IT/BPO sector jobs more than double
BI India

IT/BPO jobs have more than doubled, between 2013-14 and April 2021, growing at 152%, followed by healthcare that saw a growth of 77%. However, jobs in trade, accommodation and restaurants fell.

Education qualifications matter less than you think

Education qualifications matter less than you think
Pixbay

About 31% of the employees working in the seven of the nine sectors (excluding education and health) were matriculates/secondary or less educated, while about 31% were graduates or had higher qualifications.

Advertisement

Lesser women at work

Lesser women at work
BI India

About 29 out of every 100 workers were women, while the remaining were men. The number of women with jobs has only fallen since 2014 when 31% of the total workforce were women.

Regular jobs were most common across sectors

Regular jobs were most common across sectors
B India

Out of every 25 workers, about 22 were regular employees, while two were hired on contract. The remaining were casual workers.

Among regular workers, most were employed in the IT/BPO sector and healthcare, while construction had the highest number of contractual and casual labour.

Advertisement

Nine out of 10 offices had less than 100 workers

Nine out of 10 offices had less than 100 workers
Pixbay

Nearly 9 out of ten establishments were estimated to be working with less than 100 workers, lower than the 95% such establishments reported in the sixth economic census in 2013-14.