FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION
22, Nov 2019
Prelims level : Institutional Reforms
Mains level : GS-I Role of women and women's organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Why in News?
- According to an internal study conducted by the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), just one out of five persons entering the labour force is expected to be a female in next 5 years.
About NSDC:
- NSDC is Public Private Partnership (PPP) under Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
- It was founded in 2009 as not-for-profit Company by Ministry of Finance to address need for providing skilled manpower across various industry sectors.
- Government of India (GoI) through MSDE holds 49% of share capital of NSDC, while private sector has balance 51% of the share capital.
- NSDC aims to promote skill development by catalysing creation of large, quality and for-profit vocational institutions.
- Its objective is to create training capacity in the country; fund vocational training initiatives and create market ecosystem for skill development.
- Its mandate is to train 150 million people by 2022.
- It is also involved in re-skilling and also in catering to skilled manpower requirement of overseas markets, most notably that of Japan (under TITP) and UAE.
What did the Study Found?
- 7 crore additional individuals in the working-age (15-59 years) are expected to enter the labour force by 2023, of which 84.3 % or 5.9 crore will be in the age group 15-30 years.
- Only six states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka — are expected to account for 50 % (about 3 crore) of the new youth entrants (15-30 years) during 2019-23.
- Just one out of five persons — in the 15-30 years age bracket — entering the labour force is expected to be a female in the five years ending 2023.
- Many female candidates in the age group of 15-19 years may not be actively in the labour force, instead choosing to opt for higher education, and so, with the changing education pattern, female labour force participation rate should be watched closely for the 20-34 Years Age Group.
Comparison with Other Data’s:
- While the NSO’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18 had estimated female labour force participation rate for 15 years and above at 23.3 %, the comparative numbers of other countries highlight the labour market’s gender skew.
- According to World Bank data, India’s female labour force participation rate ranks much lower than other Asian economies in 2019, including Vietnam (73 %), China (61 %), Singapore (60 %), Bangladesh (36 %), and is closer to the estimates in countries such as Lebanon (24 %), Pakistan (24 %), Libya (26 %), Tunisia (24 %) and Sudan (24 %).