As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, female labour force participation in India improved to 37% in 2022-23, from 32.8% in 2021-22. However, this was still much lower compared with the global average of over 50%.
These are great signs for Indian economy and for women empowerment. It's also worth noting that without a proper participation of women in workforce, India can not sustain its high growth rate.
However, this sudden spike in women employment doesn't show any improvements in wages for women. The wages in India remain much much lower than other major developing and all developed countries.
The inflation is more than 6.5% but the wages are seeing no or minimum hikes over the years. You won't believe when I tell you that more than 130k teachers in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, have been paid only Rs 10,000 ($120) per month for years now.
I can only verify that not more than 25% of all women in India are working in proper jobs. The rest of the data is coming out of those schemes under which women are employed for social services roles where they are paid even less than $100 a month but government considers them as employed.
ASHAs are considered volunteers and given a fixed incentive of Rs 2000 ($25) by the Indian government for their work across 34 states. Their additional compensation comes from the task-based earnings and remuneration they receive from the states where they live, varying from Rs 2000 to Rs 7000 ($85).
So, this makes me think how India's current government promises a sustained growth in a long run. This gaming with data isn't just limited to employment but is visible in everything.
What do you say?
editIt would be important for women to have the same rights in India to further improve these figures.