Publication Page Archive

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

This study examines women’s well-being in Assam, India, through the lens of the Capability Approach to focus on women’s substantive freedoms and lived experiences. Drawing on large-scale primary survey data, the paper constructs a multidimensional Women’s Capability Index of Assam (WCIA) using the Alkire–Foster methodology at the individual level. The index captures four interrelated capability...   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

India faces a persistent challenge in generating formal sector, productive jobs for its growing workforce. The four new Labour Codes enacted in November 2025, seek to address the structural imbalance in our workforce by simplifying 29 pre-existing laws into a coherent framework to support job creation, formalisation and improve social protection of workers. In this...   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

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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