Employment – the working life in India

The Gross Domestic Product of a country has a close relationship with the total number of working people in that country. In every country, as population increases, it is essential that the country provides opportunities for those who are looking for work. Unless people get jobs to earn, how do they get food and other fulfill their requirements?

According to the Census of India 2011, out of 1210 million persons in India, 460 million people are workers i.e. people engaged in some productive activities. The following table shows some basic facts about workers in India:

Table:1 Distribution of Workers in India, 2012-2013 (%)
sector Place of Residence sex (Male and Female) All workers
Rural   Urban Male   Female
Agriculture Sector 67   9 44   63 49
Industry Sector 16   31 26   20 24
Services Sector 17   60 30   17 27
Total 100   100 100   100 100
Read the above table and fill in the blanks :
  • Majority of workers in agriculture are living in ________ areas.

  • Most _______workers are employed in agriculture sector.
  • Only a small section of _________ is in the industrial sector.

  • More than 90% of the urban workers are getting employment in ________and ______ sectors.

  • Compared to males, female workers are getting employment in ________ and ______ sectors only to a small extent.
    		•

    Unfortunately in India, while there has been a change in the share of the three sectors in GDP, a similar shift has not taken place in employment. Graph 3 shows the share of emplo-yment in the three sectors in 1973-74 and 2015-16. The agriculture sector continues to be the largest employer even now. Why didn’t employment shift out of agriculture sector? It is because not enough jobs were created in the industry and service sectors.

    More than half of the workers in the country are working in the agriculture sector, producing only one-sixth of the GDP. In contrast to this, the industry and service sectors produce three-fourth of the GDP whereas they employ only about half the proportion of workers. Does this mean that the workers in agriculture are not producing as much as they could?

    page no 35


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