Op-Eds

In the third part of our series on India’s new labour reforms, Afridi and Smruti focus on the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 – in terms of its rationale, the key legislative changes that it entails, state-level implementation, and what the existing theoretical and empirical literature says about potential impacts. They contend that the Code may improve allocative...   Read More

Data shows that young Indians spend an extraordinarily long time waiting for the right job opportunity to show up. The rise of AI will probably elongate the wait. This is a worry. Who’ll support them till they find suitable employment? India’s unemployment debate is missing a crucial dimension: time. Time spent waiting is a loss...   Read More

For generations, the work women do within the home has gone largely uncounted in national productivity measures. The Time Use Survey is an important step toward correcting that oversight. International Mother’s Day, celebrated every year on the second Sunday of May, is an occasion to express gratitude to mothers for their love, care, and countless sacrifices. The word “mother”...   Read More

In the second part of our series on India’s new labour reforms, Afridi and Thakur focus on the Code on Social Security, 2020 – in terms of its rationale, the key legislative changes that it entails, state-level implementation, and what the existing theoretical and empirical literature says about potential impacts. They contend that it is likely to...   Read More

With fewer than half of young adults employed, the labour market is increasingly polarised between extreme overwork and underemployment. Today’s young adults (20-29 years) will remain in employment for at least the next three decades. The key question is how many of them are contributing directly to economic activity, as measured by two markers: the...   Read More

With wage progression favouring younger workers, the sector will struggle to retain skilled, middle-level workers. Worker protests across India’s industrial belts have again become a recurring feature of the economic landscape. The demands are rarely un-expected — a living wage, basic job security and some assurance that spending years on the factory floor will amount...   Read More

In the first part of our series on India’s new labour reforms, Afridi and Chandna focus on the Code on Wages, 2019 – in terms of its rationale, the key legislative changes that it entails, state-level implementation, and what the existing theoretical and empirical literature says about its potential impacts. They contend that since the final rules...   Read More

India faces a persistent challenge in generating formal, productive jobs for its growing workforce. The four new Labour Codes rolled out in November 2025, seek to address the structural imbalance in the workforce by simplifying 29 existing labour laws into a more coherent framework.  Over the next five weeks, based on their new NCAER working...   Read More

Underemployment and overwork coexist in India’s youth labour market, revealing how work is unevenly distributed across people and places. India’s youth labour market presents a puzzling picture. Fewer than half of young adults aged 20–29 are employed. Yet among those who are employed, long workdays are common, often extending well beyond a standard eight hours...   Read More

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), launched in 2017, addressed this by providing annual estimates for rural and urban areas and quarterly estimates for urban areas, replacing the episodic framework with continuous measurement.  India's struggle with timely labour statistics dates back decades. The National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) Employment and Unemployment Surveys operated on thick...   Read More