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Nine in ten Indian workers are outside regular jobs with social security
On the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the share of workers who are not in regular wage or salaried jobs with any social security was 88.5% in 2017-18 and 89.9% in 2023-24. It rose to 90.3% in the pandemic year 2020-21 and reached 90.4% in 2022-23. Among regular wage and salaried employees themselves, the share without any social security rose from 49.6% in 2017-18 to 53.4% in 2023-24.
What follows. Roughly nine in ten Indian workers are outside regular jobs with social security, a larger share than in 2017-18. The survey records no cover for the self-employed and casual workers among them, so it cannot say how many of those have some.
Workers without a regular job and social security
2004-2013 average none published; 2014-2026 average 89.6%; latest 89.9% in 2023. Source, method and every year.
One of 37 readings of the dataset, rebuilt whenever the data are refreshed. Data vintage 2026-10-10. Cite as Raman, V.S., Some Perspective: India's Political Economy, 2004-2026, someperspective.info, CC BY 4.0.