Jobs in agriculture sector increases to 39.4%: CMIE report

In its weekly labour market analysis report, the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE),  found out that India’s total employment in the farming sector had risen to 39.4% in 2020-21, from 38% in 2019-20. This was due to the non-agricultural sector’s inability to provide employment. CMIE termed this as a sign of distress in the labour market.

The CMIE also said that the government’s efforts to boost manufacturing through production linked incentives or liquidity support to medium and small scale enterprises were not effective in stemming the decline of manufacturing jobs in the country.

Further, it noted that 60% of the employment in manufacturing industries is in the unorganised sectors, as per estimates. The labour from this sector migrated to agriculture in times of distress. Manufacturing Industry’s employment share dropped sharply to 7.3% in 2020-21 from 9.4% in 2019-20.

Shift to Agriculture happening despite poorest pay

The business information company also added that the migration to agriculture was happening, despite the sector offering the lowest wage rates.

Citing the periodic Labour Force Survey data, the CMIE said that the average wage for salaried jobs stood at Rs 558 per day, Rs 349 per day for self employed and for the casual labour employed in agriculture it was Rs 291 per day.

CMIE also noted that a labour would not voluntarily shift to such a low paying profession, unless it had no better options.