Employment in India
Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions:
Worker population ratio is an indicator which is used for analysing the employment situation in the country. The ratio is useful in knowing the proportion of population that is actively contributing to the production of goods and services of a country. There has been a change in the structure of workforce in India. Newly emerging jobs are found mostly in the service sector. The expansion of the service sector and the advent of high technology now frequently permit a highly competitive existence for efficient small scale and often individual enterprises or specialist workers side by side with the multinationals. Outsourcing of work is becoming a common practice. It means that a big firm finds it profitable to close down some of its specialist departments and hand over a large number of small piecemeal jobs to very small enterprises or specialist individuals, sometimes situated even in other countries. The traditional notion of the modern factory or office, as a result, has been altered in such a manner that for many the home is becoming the workplace. All of this change has not gone in favour of the individual worker. The nature of employment has become more informal with only limited availability of social security measures to the workers. In the last few decades, there has been rapid growth in the gross domestic product, but without simultaneous increase in employment opportunities. This has forced the government to take up initiatives in generating employment opportunities particularly in the rural areas as it is seen in rural economy that dependency in absolute term is increasing on farm sector.
Which among the following reflect jobless growth phenomena?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Rapid growth in GDP without generating employment
Usually, when an economy produces more, it needs more workers. From the late 1990s, however, India’s GDP grew fast while employment lagged, opening a widening gap between the two. Growth in output without a matching growth in jobs is jobless growth, which the passage describes as rapid growth in the gross domestic product without simultaneous increase in employment opportunities.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (2) Economic growth with the growth of agriculture sector — Incorrect. This describes growth led by farming. It says nothing about growth without jobs.
Option (3) High growth of Manufacturing sector — Incorrect. Fast growth of manufacturing usually creates jobs. It does not describe a gap between output growth and employment growth.
Option (4) High growth of agriculture sector — Incorrect. This too names a sector that grew. Jobless growth is about output rising without employment, whatever the sector.
NCERT (2025-26): “6.6 Growth and Changing Structure of Employment … … During these years, we also find a widening gap between the growth of GDP and employment. This means that in the Indian economy, without generating employment, we have been able to produce more goods and services. Scholars refer to this phenomenon as jobless growth.…” |