2.1 Crore Indian Women Have Disappeared From The Job Market; 45 Crore Indians Don’t Want A Job! (Survey Report)

India has always faced a problem of job creation. But now what is standing in front of the nation is much stark problem, the one where in an increasingly number of people are no longer looking for work.

According to the latest data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt, a private research firm in Mumbai, millions of Indians, particularly women, are exiting the labor force entirely due to being frustrated at not being able to find the right kind of job.

This latest piece of information spells doom for the country of youngest population and the fact that they are betting on young workers to drive growth in one of the world’s fastest-expanding economies.
In the period 2017 to 2022, the overall labor participation rate dropped from 46% to 40%.

Precarious Numbers Of Female In Workforce

A whopping 21 million women exited from the workforce, leaving only 9% of the eligible population employed or looking for positions.
According to CMIE, more than half of the 900 million Indians of legal working age do not want a job or want to find it. Notably, this is the population of the U.S. and Russia combined.

Kunal Kundu, an economist with Societe Generale GSC Pvt in Bengaluru said that “The large share of discouraged workers suggests that India is unlikely to reap the dividend that its young population has to offer. India will likely remain in a middle-income trap, with the K-shaped growth path further fueling inequality.”

Competition for anything beyond the menial labor, in a country where 2/3rd of population is between 15 & 64, is stiff and painstaking. For a handful of stable positions in government, there are millions of applicationsWhat is claimed to as “amrit kaal,” or a golden era of growth by PM Modi, the times are tough as according to a 2020 report by McKinsey Global Institute in order to keep pace with a youth bulge, India needs to create at least 90 million new non-farm jobs by 2030.

That would require an annual GDP growth of 8% to 8.5%.
“I’m dependent on others for every penny,” said Shivani Thakur, 25, who recently left a hotel job because the hours were so irregular.
Though India has done well when it comes to liberalizing its economy, drawing in the likes of Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc, India’s dependency ratio will start rising soon. Shashi Tharoor has already said that the demographic dividend is a demographic disaster.
India has struggled transition from an informal to formal economy. With demonetization and GST posing challenges.

Who Are The Ones Not Working & What They Do

Those who are unemployed can be students or homemakers. Many of them survive on the rental income, elderly survive on pensions. Others who intend to go out there and work are not able to due to non marketable skill set.
When it comes to women, the reason can be related to safety as well as more domestic responsibilities. Women, who form 49% of India’s population contribute only to 18% of its economic output. This is half of the global average.

Mahesh Vyas of CMIE said that “Women do not join the labor force in as many numbers because jobs are often not kind to them. For example, men are willing to change trains to reach their job. Women are less likely to be willing to do that. This is happening on a very large scale.”