New Delhi: The Indian economy needs to generate an average of nearly 78.5 lakh jobs annually until 2030 in the non-farm sector to cater to the rising workforce, according to the Economic Survey for 2023-24.

The Survey tabled in Parliament on Monday provided a broad estimate of the number of jobs that the economy has to generate. It further said that everyone in the working age will not seek jobs. Some of them will be self-employed and some of them will be employers too. More than jobs, the Survey added, economic growth is about generating livelihoods. Governments at all levels and the private sector will have to strive together for it.

It said that the share of agriculture in the workforce will gradually decline from 45.8 per cent in 2023 to 25 per cent in 2047.

“Consequently, the Indian economy needs to generate an average of nearly 78.5 lakh jobs annually until 2030 in the non-farm sector to cater to the rising workforce,” the Survey said.

The demand of 78.5 lakh jobs in the non-farm sector per year, can be met by supplementing the existing schemes of PLI (60 lakh employment generation over 5 years), MITRA Textile scheme (20 lakh employment generation) and MUDRA, etc., it suggested. The rising employment of flexi workers through staffing companies can be a channel for ensuring social security for informal workers, it stated.

It pointed out that there remains long-existing challenges of formalising a burgeoning workforce, facilitating job creation in sectors which can absorb workers shifting from agriculture, and ensuring social security benefits for those in regular wage/salaried employment. It further suggested that state governments can grease the wheels of hiring by easing the compliance burden and reforming laws on land.

Concurrently, the employment landscape is fast changing worldwide, and India, aspiring to be a developed nation by 2047, must partake in the massive reshaping of jobs that AI has and is likely to further spin off, it suggested.