The Great Indian Unemployment: India lost 16 million informal sector jobs in past 7 years

Every day, thousands of daily wage workers flock to Delhi’s labour chowks (squares) to find a means to make ends meet. According to these workers, the going rate for the day is between Rs 500-600. But people are hardly getting work for even 10 days in a month.

Unemployment is one of the most pressing challenges of India. According to the latest Annual Survey of Unincorporated Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2021-22 and 2022-23 released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), nearly half of Indian states and three Union territories saw informal sector job losses over seven years.

Demonetisation, GST, COVID-19 shocks cost Rs 11.3 lakh crore and 16 million informal sector jobs for India. The number of workers employed in the informal sector in 2022-23 has dropped by 1.645 million or about 1.5 per cent to 109.6 million compared to 111.3 million in 2015-16. With the lack of employment, ration card, medical insurance or even the security of getting enough money to fill the rations, India’s informal sector workers are moving back to the villages, away from the cities they once helped build.