Holidayers’ paradise Goa has also emerged as a haven for the self-employed. Gross monthly earnings in urban areas of the state were double the national average in 2023-24, according to a Moneycontrol analysis of periodic labour force survey data.
A self-employed person in urban Goa earned Rs 44,274 compared with the national average of Rs 20,413. A self-employed person in Chandigarh earned Rs 42,237, and in Delhi earned Rs 29,782 per month.
Among the larger states, women in urban Haryana earned more than twice the national average, while urban males were better off in Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka than any other state.
West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh were the worst places to be self-employed in urban areas, with incomes nearly 20-50 percent lower than the national average.
The self-employed in urban West Bengal earned 50 percent less monthly than the country’s average monthly income. West Bengal was worse for self-employed urban women, as their monthly pay was 68 percent lower than the national average.
West Bengal did not fare well either when it came to salaried jobs. Salaried employees in the state’s urban areas earned 13 percent lower than the national average of Rs 24,434 per month.
Punjab was the worst, with the average incomes of urban regular wage workers 24 percent lower than the national average. Gujarat also had one of the lowest wages among states.
Odisha, on the other hand, was not a place for salaried urban women, with an average income 32 percent lower than the national average, while West Bengal paid 30 percent lower.
Lakshadweep and Ladakh were the best places for salaried workers, but that might be due to a higher proportion of government employees in these union territories.
The incomes in Lakshadweep were 47 percent higher than the national average. Nearly half of the workers were employed with government or public sector enterprises.
Discounting for such states and NE regions, the salary was around 30 percent more for Chandigarh, Haryana and Telangana.
Women were better off in Haryana and Chandigarh, as they earned over 50 percent higher than the national average of Rs 19,879 per month.
Chandigarh and Haryana were better, as women earned higher than men. On the other end of the spectrum, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal had the highest income disparity, with urban women earning around half of men’s monthly income.
Catching up
Chandigarh was also one of the best places for salary jumps. The income of salaried employees increased 93 percent between April-June 2018 and April-June 2024, compared with the national average of 39.8 percent.
Regular wage earners in urban centres of Telangana, West Bengal, Haryana, and Karnataka also witnessed an over 50 percent increase in income in six years, while incomes of those in Odisha and Punjab grew at a slower pace.
Incomes of women in Punjab contracted by 12 percent in these six years.
Tourism haven Goa is one of the best places to be self-employed in the country as the gross monthly earning in urban areas was double that of the national average in 2023-24, according to a Moneycontrol analysis of periodic labour force survey data.
A self-employed person in urban Goa earned Rs 44,274 compared with the national average of Rs 20,413. A self-employed person in Chandigarh earned Rs 42,237, and in Delhi earned Rs 29,782 per month.
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