Women in salaried jobs in India down to a seven-year low: MC Analysis

Quality deterioration

The number of women in regular wage/salaried jobs fell to the lowest level in seven years at 49.4 percent as compared with 50.8 percent in the previous year. This marks the first time that less than 50 percent of the women were employed in regular wage/salaried work.

The decline corresponds with the rise in the share of women in the self-employed category.

While men also experienced a shift away from salaried work, the level of decline was much less pronounced than women.

Lower pay

Moreover, a glance at the income levels shows that women were worse off when moving away from salaried work than men.

While the average monthly income of a salaried male worker was just 11 percent higher than self-employed male in urban areas, the difference for women was a whopping 132 percent. Salaried women earned Rs 19,709 on average, twice that of a woman’s monthly income in self-employed category.

Not all salaried work is the same either.

The proportion of women having salaried jobs without a written contract rose to 59 percent in 2023-24 compared with 57.6 percent in the previous year. The ones without paid leave also rose to 45.2 percent from 44.6 percent and without social security benefits jumped to 55.7 percent from 53.6 percent in the previous year.

Meanwhile, men were better off across all categories as the share of men working in jobs without contracts and sans social security declined.