India to struggle to bridge job gaps even if economic growth is 7%: Citigroup

As per the report, Citi estimates India will need to create about 12 million jobs per year over the next decade to absorb the number of new entrants to the labor market.

India will struggle to create enough jobs for its growing workforce over the next decade even if the economy grows at a pace of 7 percent, Citigroup Inc. said, as per a Bloomberg report.

This indicates that the world’s most populous nation will need more concrete steps to boost employment.

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As per the report, Citi estimates India will need to create about 12 million jobs per year over the next decade to absorb the number of new entrants to the labor market. Based on a growth rate of 7 percent, India can only generate 8-9 million jobs a year, Citigroup’s economists Samiran Chakraborty and Baqar Zaidi wrote in a report.

Another challenge is the quality of jobs, the economists said.
According to the analysis of the official data, about 46 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, even though the sector contributes less than 20 percent to gross domestic product (GDP).

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The unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years or above declined to 3.1 per cent in 2023, the lowest in the last three years, as per a report of the National Sample Survey Organisation under the statistics ministry. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for calendar year 2023, the unemployment rate fell to 3.1 percent in 2023 from 3.6 percent in 2022 and 4.2 percent in 2021.

As per the report quoting Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private research firm, the jobless rate in May was 9.2 percent, the highest in eight months. For those aged 20-24, the rate is more than 40 percent, according to CMIE figures.