Kerala tops the states in rural worker wages; poorer states close the gap with rich ones

It pays to be a rural wage worker in Odisha

A rural worker in Kerala earned twice as much as the national average, a Moneycontrol analysis of data from the RBI’s Handbook of Statistics on Indian states released on December 9 showed.

The average daily wage of a rural worker in Kerala at over Rs 700 was thrice that of the state that paid the least.

The RBI data presents wages for male workers across agricultural, non-agricultural and construction work.

In the case of construction jobs, the pay was the highest across the categories with the average wage at Rs 417 per day. On the other hand, a worker in Kerala earned Rs 894 per day, while Madhya Pradesh paid the least at Rs 292.

While Kerala paid Rs 735 per day for non-agricultural work, Madhya Pradesh paid the least at Rs 262. Agricultural work was also the least remunerative in MP at Rs 242 compared with Rs 807 earned by Kerala male workers.

Declining inequality

While the gap between the richest and poorest states may be substantial, data indicates that the states that paid the least have been closing the gap with Kerala.

In construction work, the wages of a male worker were just three-fold more in Kerala in 2023-24 from the states that paid the least compared with a 4.5x difference in 2014-15.

Madhya Pradesh, which paid the least a decade ago, has since grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 6 percent. Odisha has grown even faster at 6.7 percent.

In the case of non-agricultural work, the gap has reduced from 4x to 2.8x, with Madhya Pradesh growing at 6.4 percent and Odisha growing the fastest at 7.2 percent per annum for a decade.