Growth and Prospects of Non-Farm Employment in India: Reflections from NSS Data

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the recent trends of non-farm employment in India and to identify the employment generating sectors that would absorb the rapidly growing labour force using various rounds of NSS unit level data. Major findings of this study suggest that a structural change in employment has been taking place since 2004-05, that could be rightly named as a Lewisan transition. Construction, services and labour intensive manufacturing sectors together continued to absorb the workers who left agriculture during the post 2004-05 periods. Given the demographic scenario and huge participation in education (particularly secondary and above level), about 11 million skilled, 9 million low-skilled and 43 million unskilled job seekers are expected to join the labour force by 2019-20. Thus, along with the skill development initiatives the government has to give top priority for generating employment in manufacturing and service sectors