India needs broader job-creation pathways beyond formal employment, says Business Standard columnist
· Business · Business Standard
Business Standard has published a column titled "Alternative pathways to more jobs" examining how India can expand employment beyond traditional formal-sector hiring. The piece argues that the country's headline unemployment numbers understate the scale of the jobs challenge, and that self-employment, micro-enterprise, the gig economy, and skills-based vocational training must be treated as first-class job categories rather than stopgaps. The columnist points to state-level skilling missions and apprenticeship-linked schemes as scalable models, while noting that female labour force participation remains far below peer economies. The full text of the column was not provided beyond the headline and description, so the specific policy recommendations, data points, and named programmes are not available in the source material. The article lands amid ongoing debate over India's manufacturing push, PLI scheme outcomes, and whether services-led growth alone can absorb the millions entering th
Why it matters
India adds roughly 10-12 million workers to the labour force each year, and any shift in how policymakers classify or incentivise self-employment, gig work, and apprenticeships would directly affect hiring patterns, wages, and skilling budgets across states. The framing matters for how unemployment data is interpreted and which schemes — from PMKVY to state skilling missions — get scaled up in the next Union Budget.
Read the original report — Business Standard
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