The report ‘India Employment Outlook 2030: Navigating Sectoral Trends and Competencies’ by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) forecasts a 22 per cent increase in overall employment and a decline in unemployment by 97 basis points by the year 2028.
Notably, the service sector is expected to lead this surge in job creation, with every unit rise in services output contributing to a 0.12 percent increase in employment.
The report sheds light on the future of India’s job market, particularly emphasizing the role of the service sector which plays an important role in driving employment growth as the nation inches closer to its US USD 5 trillion economic milestone.
Highlighting specific sectors within the service industry, the report identifies ten high-opportunity sub-sectors poised for rapid growth.
These include digital services, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, consumer retail, e-commerce, renewable energy, global capability centers, and MSME and startup ecosystems.
Moreover, the report underscores the avenues the burgeoning service sector offers for women’s employment.
It advocates prioritizing investment in women’s skilling, financial inclusion, and entrepreneurship to capitalize on these opportunities and foster inclusive economic growth.
However, the outlook for India’s manufacturing sector appears less optimistic, despite initiatives like Make in India and growing imports from the US.
Employment in this sector is observed to have declined, attributed to technological advancements and increased automation.
To address this challenge, the report suggests transitioning towards industrial value chains associated with the service sector to rejuvenate employment opportunities.
Nilanjan Ghosh, a Director at ORF and one of the report’s authors emphasized the importance of policymakers and public sector schemes partnering closely with other stakeholders to identify employability and skilling gaps.
He stressed the need to upgrade curricula and skills to ensure India’s talent pool is industry-ready.
He said, “Policymakers and public sector schemes could partner more closely with other stakeholders to identify employability and skilling gaps. The next step would be to upgrade curricula and skills to make India’s talent pool more industry-ready.”
Furthermore, Ghosh highlighted the crucial role of entrepreneurship in driving future employment growth.
He emphasized the potential of a new class of entrepreneurs to stimulate job creation, expand India’s startup ecosystem, spur innovation, and promote youth participation. Gender sensitivity and inclusivity in future workplaces were also emphasized.
Ghosh said, “A new class of entrepreneurs could stimulate job creation, expand India’s startup ecosystem, spur innovation, and promote youth participation. But we also need to ensure that the workplaces of the future are gender-sensitive and inclusive.”