Unemployment has grown despite high GDP growth in developing economies, says the latest UN report. Developing countries not only need to create enough employment in quantitative terms, they also need to improve the quality of jobs. A major characteristic of the labour is large number of low-productivity jobs and relatively few modern, high-productivity jobs.
Cause for worry for India
- Share of total employment in agriculture decreased from 63.3 per cent to 55.7 per cent between 1995 and 2008
- Share of employment in industry increased marginally from 11.2 per cent to 12.8 per cent between 1995 and 2008
- Share of employment in the services sector increased marginally from 21.3 per cent to 25 per cent
- Real wages in this period grew marginally from -1.8 per cent to 0.7 per cent
From the report:
“Developing countries not only need to create enough employment in quantitative terms, they also need to improve the quality of jobs. A major characteristic of the labour is large number of low-productivity jobs and relatively few modern, high-productivity jobs.”