India added 2.5 times more jobs in FY24 compared to the previous year, provisional data released by the Reserve Bank of India on July 8 showed.
The total additions to the workforce at 46.7 million were the highest since 1981-82, according to calculations, with the rate of growth at 6 percent also outpacing the previous three decades.
The country’s noteworthy job addition came when the output growth was only marginally higher at 6.7 percent in FY24 compared to 6.6 percent in the previous year.
Reserve Bank of India’s KLEMS database uses the government’s periodic labour force survey to calculate employment numbers.
PLFS data from 2022-23—the latest available report—found that India’s unemployment rate dipped to its lowest level of 3.2 percent in 2022-23 from 6.1 percent in 2017-18. The PLFS data is calculated for the July-June period.
RBI data further found that by the end of FY24, 643.3 million people were employed compared to 597 million in the previous year.
The last time India added over 40 million jobs was in FY20, as per KLEMS when output growth had declined to 4.1 percent from 5.7 percent.
Formal employment data released by the government last month showed that over 31 million people entered the formal workforce for the first time in FY24. Of these, 21 million joined the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, and another 10 million joined the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme.
Further data analysis shows that in 2022-23, of the 19 million jobs that were added, three in five went to agriculture, construction and other services. Trade accounted for another tenth of job additions. Agriculture accounted for 42.4 percent of country’s total employment, while another 12.5 percent were employed in construction.
