Family, casual and self-employed.

In the financial year 2022-23 India's economy will have grown by 7% for the fourth year in a row and "the employment creation engine was humming and in good health," wrote Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India V Anantha Nageswaran. Employment growth was 27.9 million between 2004 and 2014, and, excluding the Covid years from 2019 to 2021, employment grew by 42.6 million from 2013-14 to 2021-22. Manufacturing contracted by 0.5 million from 2013 to 2019 but added 4.3 million in 2021-22. Services added 44.1 million jobs between 2013-14 and 2021-22. And yet, the "Cumulative direct transfers of government benefits, both in cash and kind, are more than Rs 34 trillion, with hundreds of millions of beneficiaries." Employment is booming along with handouts. Strange. Out of the 44.1 million increase in the services sector, about 10-15 million are estimated to be low-paid gig workers. BT. They are - the precariat - "which is a condition of existence without predictability or security" (OR Briefings.) In India, "The overall rate of self-employed people increased to 57.3% in 2022-23 from 55.8% in 2021-22 and 55.6% in 2020-21." "Unpaid labour - which is categorised as 'helper in household enterprise' within self-employment - has increased to 18.3% in 2022-23 from 17.5% in 2021-22 and 17.3% in 2020-21," wrote Taniya Roy. "Companies always say they expect business to revive and hence would be investing more in the future," or their share prices will fall. However, "First, investment is not broad-based, as no clear picture supports such a view. Second, sectors related to government spending are investing for sure." And, "Third, a large chunk of funding is coming from internal resources," wrote Madan Sabnavis. Although the workforce has increased by 112 million, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed a decline in unemployment from 6.1% in 2017-18 to 3.2% in 2022-23. Unpaid family workers accounted for 37% of the 112 million, casual workers accounted for 9% and the self-employed accounted for 13%. Salaried workers, who are the best paid, contributed just 13%, wrote Abhishek Jha. "According to 2022-23 PLFS, 61% of non-agricultural workers in India were employed in enterprises which had fewer than six workers." More than 80% work in enterprises with less than 20 workers. According to the 2022-23 Budget, 0.05%of 961,000 companies made at least Rs 5 billion before tax, which is 62% of profits before taxes and 48% of total income in India. 0.21% of companies make Rs 1 to 5 billion in profits, control more than 60% of total income and make 75% of profits before tax, wrote Roshan Kishore and Abhishek Jha. As the chief economic advisor Mr Nageswaran is responsible to the nation. He should not be a drum majorette for the government. Even if the election is almost here.