Are we creating jobs, or just creating workers?

India may have millions of people working, but that does not automatically mean millions of secure jobs. In our sunday special ediiton of YOUR INDIA column, Santosh Nair writes on informal work, underemployment and the difference between having something to do and having work a family can confidently build a future around.

A man sells vegetables from a handcart at a traffic signal. Ask him what he does, and he says he works for himself. Ask a government survey the same question, and it agrees. He is counted as employed.

Technically, this is true. In practice, it hides something important.

India’s main employment survey, the Periodic Labour Force Survey, counts a person as employed if they worked for even one hour during a single reference week, including unpaid work on a family farm or in a family shop. This is not a flaw in the survey. It is a standard international method, useful for comparing countries. But it means India’s headline employment numbers can look reassuring while telling us very little about the quality of the work being counted.

Read more: Why does more education sometimes mean a longer wait for a job?

Are we measuring employment, or the quality of employment?

Here is the number that should make anyone pause. Roughly ninety per cent of India’s workforce works in the........

© News9Live