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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

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India’s workforce is stuck in low productivity. Here’s what must change

India’s workforce continues to exhibit disproportionate concentration in agriculture and self-employment, and limited expansion in salaried work.

India’s economic growth over the past three and a half decades has been striking but the headline numbers carry a persistent and increasingly urgent challenge of addressing the structural weaknesses in India’s labour force.

First, India’s labour force participation rate sits below the trend line for economies at comparable economic levels (Figure 1). This reflects a structural failure to productively engage a young population that is growing rapidly (NCAER Report, 2025). 

Figure 1. Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR) by GDP Per Capita (2024)

Second, India’s workforce continues to exhibit disproportionate concentration in agriculture and self-employment, and limited expansion in salaried work (Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Annual Report, 2025). As seen in Figure 2, India’s agriculture sector continues to house the lion’s share of employment (about 45%),........

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