Changing Pattern of Economic Development and Employment in India: An Interstate Analysis

The present study reveals the changing pattern of economic development and quality of employment with a special focus on the last decade since economic reforms were introduced in the Indian economy. The study identifies the dominant patterns of the employment relation system in India and changing regional patterns of employment. The available evidence tends to indicate that growing economic development has been accompanied by a low employment growth rate. This is evident not only in all of India but also across the states. This study examines the changes in employment elasticities across sectors during the past-reform period; the changes indicate that employment elasticity is higher only in tertiary and regular wage employment categories. The declining employment elasticity in top priority sectors leads to more unemployment, which economists are concerned with to portray the recent experience as one of "jobless growth"