Informal Sector Sees 16 Lakh Job Losses From 2015 To 2022

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the annual survey of unincorporated enterprises (ASUSE) for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. In 2022-2023, there were 16.45 lakh fewer workers in the informal sector, or roughly 1.5 per cent, at 10.96 crore as opposed to 11.13 crore in 2015-16, as per media report.

The number of unincorporated businesses climbed by 16.56 lakh from 6.33 crore in 2015-16 to 6.50 crore in 2022-23, according to the ASUSE for 2021-22 and 2022-23, claimed media report. The data is released after 2015. It is first after demonisation, goods and services tax (GST), Covid-19 pandemic thus highlighting these events' impact on the economy and informal sector.

Five states, Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha that employ over three-quarters of India's informal sector labourers saw an increase in informal employment between 2015-16 and 2022-23. However, the survey also revealed that during the same period, the number of workers in the informal sector decreased in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. 42 per cent of all informal workers are employed in these five states.

Though there is a rise in the number of establishments by 2 million, the increased number of establishments in 2022-23 did not result in an increased number of workers, possibly due to the increasing number of Own Account Enterprises (OAEs) in the sector. There is a fall in gross value added (GVA) share by 2.9 per cent.

ASUSE 2021-22 and ASUSE 2022-23 do not give various elements as covered in the 2015-16 survey like the distribution of establishments and workers as state-wise and gender-wise, availability of skilled manpower, waste management and toilets in each establishment and original investments in plant and machinery, enabling classification of those establishments as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and others.