The well-known economist said that India's workforce has largely remained stagnant at a little over 400 million in the past five years. This is significant because how persistent it remains has wide-ranging impacts across the economy.
There is a growing sense of frustration among millions of young jobseekers in India, driving them to leave the country in search of better opportunities.
Migrant workers have returned to India’s cities – but they are even more vulnerable now
As the job market shrinks, a labour surplus exerts downward pressure on wages and working conditions, making jobs more informal. Representational image. | PTI
Seema Kumar, a young beautician has just returned to Hyderabad after eight months of working on farms in her village. She was among the estimated 121 million people in India who lost their jobs after when the country went into a lockdown in March to contain the spread of the coronavirus
But unlike her usual city woes of searching for a hostel or negotiating shift timings, this time her worries are different. Kumar has come back to work at the same salon that employed her for the last three years without the commitment of a fixed wage. Instead of her usual monthly salary of Rs 8,500, Kumar has been informed that she will be paid only for her days of “productive” work: the weekends, festivals and other days of