The Economic Survey 2024-25 presented in Parliament has put forward a major truth. In the last few years, while inflation and unemployment increased, the actual monthly earnings of common people have been recorded. It has a profound impact on the income of self-employment and salaried employees, especially.
Big shock in self-employment
If you are doing your work, this news can surprise you. The average monthly earnings of men were ₹ 9,454 in 2017-18, but now it has fallen 9% to ₹ 8,591 in 2023-24. The condition of women was worse. His monthly earnings declined by 32% and declined from ₹ 4,338 to ₹ 2,950.
Salarid situation is also worrying
The situation was not better for those who work in companies. The monthly income of male salary has come down from ₹ 12,665 to ₹ 11,858. At the same time, women salary has suffered the most shock, whose income has come down from ₹ 10,116 to ₹ 8,855.
However, a big jump has been seen in the female labor force participation rate. While it was 23.3% in 2017-18, now it has increased to 41.7% in 2023-24. The number of women working or employer in rural areas also increased from 19% to 31.2%. But experts consider it a result of financial compulsion and not of any major improvement.
While the jobbers and self-employment are upset, the earnings of irregular laborers have increased. The daily earnings of male irregular laborers increased by 19% to ₹ 242, while women’s earnings increased by 24% and now it has increased to ₹ 159.
Economic shocks and inflation spoiled the game
Renowned economist Arun Kumar says that in the last few years, the earnings of laborers have been shocked. People were already in crisis due to demonetisation and then Kovid-19 lockdown. After that inflation also hurt his remaining earnings. He said, “Profit from the private sector increased, but there was no significant increase in the salary of the employees. After the epidemic unemployment made the situation worse, where people were forced to work in less money. ”
Impact of boom in construction sector
Labor expert Santosh Mehrotra says that the reason for the increasing earnings of irregular laborers is the boom in the construction sector. Especially the emphasis has been seen in construction activities from mid-FY21. Infrastructure projects and residential demand have given a new speed to this sector.
The Economic Survey mentions that the profits of companies increased by 22% in FY24, but the increase in job was only 1.5%. Companies made good profits by keeping their Ebitda margin stable, but the salary hike of employees remained slow. Especially in the IT sector, new recruitments were affected and salary was stagnated at the initial level.
Status of agriculture and non-agricultural sectors
Region wise inequality has also been observed in increment. Men’s income in the agriculture sector increased by only 0.6%, while women’s income increased by 1.8%. At the same time, women gained 2.6% in non-agricultural works, while men’s income increased only 0.4%.