When 501 million workers (88.7%) don’t get regular wages or social security, spending more on privileged 2.3 million central government workers is waste of resources
A World Bank report of 2022 says China put a premium on human development, income and social security; prepared a rural base and managed urbanisation, infrastructure and competition
The country needs to revisit the very definition of gig and platform workers similar to those outside the traditional employer-employee relationship, like the U.S. and Europe.
While its urban job guarantee scheme would be eagerly awaited, the return to old pension scheme is more likely to be panned than appreciated by policymakers.
A social security net is necessitated by the reverse migration that happened in the wake of the pandemic, and has increased the dependence of the populace on the schemes like MNREGA
Gig work, at lower end of the skill chain, is low-paying, with no social security and job protection; it worsens social and financial health of workers, damaging the economy’s growth prospects.
In Budget 2021, Nirmala Sitharaman proposes to launch a portal that will collect data on the unorganised workforce in the country to formulate health, housing, insurance, and credit schemes.
