Women’s Employability on a Rise: NSO

The degree may be small but it certainly is an indication of the rising employability level of women in urban India or the organized sector. There has been a marginal increase in women being employed as regular salaried personnel, going by the latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), a wing of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. But whether that reflects or indicates closing the gender gap on a sustainable basis remains to be seen.

The latest data from NSO suggest that the percentage of women in regular wages or as salaried employees have gone up to 58.2 percent in the quarter ending March 2019, vis-à-vis 56.1 percent in the year 2018, indicating a rise of 2.1 percent in women’s employment in urban India. Compared to this, the rise in men’s employment for the same period stood at 1.5 percent -- 46.4 percent in 2018 and 47.9 percent for the quarter ending March 2019.

“The increased percentage is indicative of rising employability levels of women in urban India as also the higher retention potential of women. The role of women in economic activity has increased steadily showing a decline in the unemployment rate,” said Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, social entrepreneur, founder–president, Avtar Group, India’s Premier Diversity & Inclusion Strategy Firm.

Interestingly, women’s representation in the 100 ‘Best Companies’ for women in India (BCWI) has increased from 31 percent in 2018 to 33 percent in 2019 – a rise of 2 percent. Over the years, since the inception of the BCWI, women’s representation in the 100 Best companies for women has continued to increase. According to the BCWI study (released earlier this year), women’s representation rose from 31 per cent in 2018 to 33 per cent in 2019, which was at 25 per cent in 2016 among the 100 Best Companies that together employ over 4.9 lakh (half a million) women professionals in the current year, 2019.

According to many, one of the barriers for increased women’s workforce participation is concentrated in the semi-urban and rural areas of the country. “Majority of employers in the country are in the informal and smaller economic units that employ fewer people. As per the MSME Annual report, 2018-19, 55 percent of MSMEs in India operate out of urban areas. Currently, 24 percent of the workforce at MSMEs is women, the total employee count being 11 crores. Being the second-largest sectoral employer in the country, the potential for job creation is equally huge. If MSMEs are to look at this surging talent pool of skilled women as viable, the sector can contribute substantially to increasing women’s workforce participation rate,” said Rajesh.

Significantly, the ‘Best Companies for Women in India’ are projected to get to a 50-50 gender balance by 2027.  Further, women leading business roles are currently at 16 percent and all set to grow to 25 percent by 2025.