India needs policies focusing on job-rich growth and equality: ILO chief

Context

International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Gilbert Houngbo has said that India should focus on job-rich growth and equality to address the crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine situation.

Details:

In concluding remarks at the 17^th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), ILO Director-General has said that the member countries to:
Ensure greater policy coherence among multilateral, regional and national stakeholders.
Channel the collective efforts and resources to achieve social justice and decent work for all.
Develop institutional frameworks to support transitions towards formality and decent work.
Strengthen the foundations for social and employment protection and resilience.
Revitalize productivity growth and skills.

Consequences of COVID-19 in India:

Income and food price spike: It caused substantial income losses and food price spikes.
Low-income households: They barely maintained their subsistence household expenditure.
Engel’s law: Share of food expenditure rises as income falls. Further aggravated by food price spikes.
Impact on socialization: Due to budget constraints: A higher share of food expenditure is expected to lower that of socializing expenditure.
Slow Recovery: It might increase inequality in India.
India needs policies focusing on job-rich growth and equality.
By focusing on job-rich growth and equality, India can move forward further.

Impact of Ukraine-Russia conflict:

It has resulted in causing inflation and an energy crisis.
Those who are paying the price for this are those who have nothing to do with this crisis.
Low-paid citizens are left behind, particularly because of inflation.
They are forced to spend a big amount of proportion of their salaries on basic needs.

Inclusive Growth:

Inclusive growth means economic growth that creates employment opportunities and helps in reducing poverty. Elements of Inclusive Growth are:
Skill Development: Harnessing the demographic dividend will depend upon the employability of the working-age population, their health, education, vocational training and skills. Skill development plays a key role here.
Financial Inclusion: Financial Inclusion is the process of ensuring access to financial services to vulnerable groups at affordable costs.
Technological Advancement: The world is moving towards an era of Industrial Revolution 4.0. These technological advancements have capabilities to both decrease or increase inequality depending on the way these are being used.
Economic Growth: India is among the fastest-growing major economies in the world. However, currently Indian economy is facing a slowdown due to cyclic and structural challenges.
Social Development: It means empowering all marginalised sections of the population like SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, women and transgenders.

India's Employment Trend:

Agriculture: There’s been a reversal of the trend in the last two years. This has primarily to do with the Covid-induced economic disruptions.
Service Sector: The services sector does include relatively well-paying industries such as information technology, business process outsourcing, telecommunications, finance, healthcare, education and public administration.
- The bulk of the jobs, in this case, is in petty retailing, small eateries, domestic help, sanitation, security staffing, transport and similar other informal economic activities.
Manufacturing Sector: The share of manufacturing (and mining) in total employment has fallen along with that of agriculture.

Major Causes of Unemployment in India:

Social Factors
Rapid Growth of Population
The dominance of Agriculture
Fall of Cottage and Small Industries
Immobility of Labour
Defects in Education System

Key Findings of the PLFS (July-September 2022):

Unemployment Ratio: The unemployment rate was 6.6% for men and 9.4% for women (9.3% and 11.6% in July-September 2021).
Worker-Population Ratio (WPR): The WPR among men was 68.6% and 19.7% among women (66.6% and 17.6% in 2021).
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): The LFPR among men was 73.4% and 21.7% among women (73.5% and 19.9%, in July-September 2021).