Decline in regular wage employment in general category led to an increase in self-employment and casual work
New Delhi, NFAPost: Workers in the general category saw the steepest decline in regular wage employment among all social groups in the last five years. The share of workers belonging to the general (others) category who worked as regular wage employees fell to 26.8% in 2022-23 from 33% in 2018-19, marking a drop of 6.2 percentage points, according to the annual periodic labour force survey (PLFS) data.
In comparison, members of the ‘other backward classes’ (OBCs) witnessed a 2.4 percentage point decline with 19.8% of OBC people having regular jobs in 2022-23 against 22.2% in 2018-19. Only 12.3% of people from the scheduled tribes group had wage employment in 2022-23, down from 13% in 2018-19.
The deterioration in the quality of employment was the least for the population belonging to the scheduled castes (SCs). Wage employment among SCs declined to 20.3% in 2022-23 from 20.8% in 2018-19, the survey said.
Marginalised communities like SCs and STs have historically had a low share in regular wage employment, now people from the general category are the worst-hit, Santosh Mehrotra, visiting professor at the University of Bath, said, adding that the economy has not been generating enough quality jobs in recent years.
“Historically, regular wage employment has been the reserve of better educated general category people, usually living in urban areas. Now, with the economy still not generating enough decent jobs, they are finding it difficult to find regular-wage employment. This is true for better-educated people belonging to other social groups as well, which explains the cumulative fall in wage employment in recent years,” he added.
The decline in regular wage employment in the general category has led to an increase in self-employment (comprising unpaid household labour or owning a small enterprise) and casual work among them. While self-employment has seen an increase across all social groups, the share of casual workers has gone up only in the general category. A total of 14.1% of people from the general category worked as casual labourers in 2022-23 against 12.2% in 2018-19.
Another labour economist requesting anonymity said the general category people have been riding the wave of self-employment in recent years because they are better educated. “Now, aided by the government’s thrust on entrepreneurship and microcredit programmes, they are in a better position to lead and own a small business of their own and that is what explains the increase in self-employment among them,” he said.
