Employment growth is flat in India: OECD report

The Dollar Business Bureau The workforce participation rate in India is on the lower side reflecting the greater size of the informal economy and lower literacy levels, said an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Report. In its latest report, “Securing Livelihoods for All: Foresight for Action,” OECD said that In most developing regions, 80% of people feel they are struggling or even suffering in their daily lives, rather than thriving. Furthermore, emerging trends in the economy, technology, demography, environment and security could negatively impact livelihoods – defined as the ability to support oneself and thrive now and in the future – in the next decades. “The outlook for livelihoods is fragile. Emerging global trends are creating a lot of uncertainty, and we need to find innovative ways to ensure resilience of livelihoods”, said Carl Dahlman, Head of Global Development Research at the Development Centre. “Still, in all middle and low-income countries, people generally think that the future will be better than the past or the present. The greatest optimism is in the East Asia-Pacific region” he added. Increasing inequality as the benefits of economic growth are not shared equally. The poorest 66% of the world’s population are estimated to receive less than 13% of world income, while the richest 1% receive nearly 15%. And around 70% of the world’s undernourished live in middle-income countries. As a result, there is an increase in inequality as the benefits of the economic growth are not shared equally. Jobs are further challenged by rapid technical change and automation. Even white-collar occupations such as accountancy, legal work and technical writing may eventually be phased out, said the report and added that policy measures taken in recent years to reduce the fragility of the financial and banking systems have been considerable, but more is needed to make the system truly robust. The next major shocks may well come from emerging markets, whose growing corporate sector has benefited from massive lending by the global financial system, the report said. National governments can be enablers of vibrant societies and a back-stop in hard times. For example, to address the jobs challenge, governments could enhance opportunities for lifelong learning and promote livelihood portfolios made up of part-time work, paid training, and unemployment benefits. Local initiatives help secure livelihoods, for example, by supporting a vibrant shared local economy in which individuals can survive through a patchwork of entrepreneurial and social initiatives involving exchanges, barters and virtual service marketplaces. The introduction of local currencies (also known as complementary or community currencies) for example, could shelter local communities from the turbulence of volatile global financial markets, the report concluded.    

This article was published on April 17, 2015 – 4.06 pm IST.