Delhi, Jharkhand, and Haryana seem to have made significant progress in reducing unemployment over the last seven years, but Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have witnessed an improvement in the quality of jobs during this period especially when it comes to urban areas, according to a Moneycontrol analysis of periodic labour force survey data.
Delhi topped the states in overall employment reduction, with the unemployment rate reducing by 7.3 percentage points to 2.1 percent in 2023-24 from 9.4 percent in 2017-18. However, analysis shows that most of these gains, at least in urban areas, were owing to a rise in the self-employed category in the city.
The number of people engaged in salaried work declined during this period. For women, the decline was nearly 5 percentage points.
This distinction is important as the incomes of self-employed men in 2023-24 in urban areas were 11 percent lower than those of salaried workers. In the case of women, the average monthly earning of self-employed woman was almost half of salaried women
In Delhi, the share of self-employed persons rose 5.2 percentage points to 37.9 percent, while those in salaried work declined to 56.2 percent from 61.9 percent earlier.
The comparison is considered for urban areas, as the rural population tends to be predominantly engaged in agriculture, largely under the self-employed category.
Southern states seem to perform better when it comes to the share of salaried workers in the economy.
While unemployment reduced by 0.7 percentage points in Andhra Pradesh’s urban areas, the share of people engaged in salaried work jumped 8.9 percentage points.
Home to India’s tech capital, Karnataka’s urban areas witnessed a 7.9 percentage point jump in salaried workers, even as its unemployment rate declined 2.3 percentage points between 2017-18 and 2023-24, lower than the national average of 2.6 percentage points.
Kerala showed stellar results on both counts. Urban unemployment in the state reduced by 6.5 percentage points to 6.7 percent, and the number of salaried workers grew 8.5 percentage points.
Kerala and Andhra Pradesh had higher unemployment rates in 2023-24 than the national average of 5.1 percent.
On the other end of the spectrum, Rajasthan’s unemployment increased compared with 2017-18, and the proportion of salaried workers also fell.
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were also worse off despite significant declines in unemployment, as the proportion of salaried workers in the states shrunk.
Among the 28 states analysed by Moneycontrol, 10 had over 50 percent share of salaried workers. Among the larger states, Maharashtra had the highest share, 56.8 percent, followed by Gujarat, 55.3 percent.
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