- Employment
India's labor force is growing by 2.5% every year, but employment is growing only at 2.3% a year.
Official unemployment exceeds 9%. Regulation and other obstacles have discouraged the emergence of formal businesses and jobs. Almost 30% of workers are casual workers who work only when they are able to get jobs and remain unpaid for the rest of the time.
Only 10% of the workforce is in regular employment.
India's labor regulations are heavy even by developing country standards and analysts have urged the government to abolish them.
From the overall stock of an estimated 458 million workers, 394 million (86%) operate in the unorganized sector (of which 63% are self-employed) mostly as informal workers. There is a strong relationship between the quality of employment and social and poverty characteristics. The relative growth of informal employment was more rapid within the organized rather than the unorganized sector. This informalization is also related to the flexibilization of employment in the organized sector that is suggested by the increasing use of contract labor by employers in order to benefit from more flexible labor practices.
Most children never go beyond primary level schooling. Children under 14 constitute 3.6% of the total
labor force in the country. Of these children, 9 out of every 10 work in their own
rural family settings. Around 85% of them are engaged in traditional agricultural activities. Less than 9% work in
manufacturing,
services and
repairs.
Child labor is a complex problem that is basically rooted in poverty. The Indian government is implementing the world's largest child labor elimination program, with primary education targeted for ~250 million. Numerous non-governmental and voluntary organizations are also involved. Special investigation cells have been set up in states to enforce existing laws banning employment of children (under 14) in hazardous industries. The allocation of the Government of India for the eradication of
child labor was
US$10 million in 1995-96 and
US$16 million in 1996-97. The allocation for 2007 is
US$21 million.
