January 24th, 2012 
Malvika
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) think India is expected to withstand the latest global slowdown better than most countries, if it ensures rising income levels for the working class and enough jobs for a growing working-age population.
“The main challenge is not unemployment, but rather the high degree of informality that persists despite strong growth,”said the report.
“The robust growth witnessed in the South Asian region was driven largely by India and was largely due to the rapid rise in labour productivity, rather than an expansion in employment,” the report, titled, ‘Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a Deeper Jobs Crisis’, said.
This situation is prominent in India, which accounts for 74 per cent of the South Asia region’s labour force.
In India, total employment grew by only 0.1 per cent over the five years to 2009-10 — from 457.9 million in 2004-05 to 458.4 million in 2009/10 — while labour productivity grew by more than 34 per cent over this period.
A major reason for the slow growth in employment in recent years is the fall in female participation in the labour force. This has been most pronounced in India, where participation of women in labour activities fell from 49.4 per cent in 2004-05 to 37.8 per cent in 2009-10 for rural females and from 24.4 per cent to 19.4 per cent for urban females.
“Overall, the worsening economic conditions will make it more challenging for the South Asia region to promote the creation of productive jobs in the non-farm sector and continue the battle against the persistence of informality, vulnerable employment and specific barriers for women and youth in the labour market,” the report said.
Source – Agencies
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