Common Futures

Employment
A deeper investigation into the matter highlights the inability of these economies
in generating proportionate employment. Close watchers of both regions have
often described the nature of growth as jobless. The latest Economic Survey
of India has classified the country’s slow and stagnant employment generation
rates as a cause for major concern.
Despite sustained economic successes, both regions still struggle to address
basic development goals. India has failed to achieve six out the eight
Millennium Development Goals. 3 For most African countries, halving the
poverty rate (MDG 1a) remains a difficult task. 4 So, why have high economic
returns not translated to social development? The explanation of this paradox
perhaps lies in the nature of growth – in both Africa and India.
Deconstructing the growth pattern
A deeper investigation into the matter highlights the inability of these
economies in generating proportionate employment. Close watchers of
both regions have often described the nature of growth as jobless. The latest
Economic Survey of India has classified the country’s slow and stagnant
employment generation rates as a cause for major concern. In fact the
National Sample Survey of India showed that in 2009-10, a mere 2.76 million
employment opportunities were added even though the GDP growth rate
was over 9 percent consecutively from 2005-06 to 2007-08. 5 A report by the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has also emphasized the
failure of the region’s GDP growth in creating decent work - employment to
population ratio fell from55.7 percent in 2005 to 44.2 percent in 2012. 6
Africa’s oil and gas sector has been a primary driver of growth in the region.
However, the niche nature of the extractives industry has meant that very
few individuals have been able to benefit from this sector. Another major
contributor to Africa’s growth story is the services sector – low-productivity
jobs especially those related to informal and non-tradable activities have
been booming. India’s growth has also been led by the services sector – it
contributed 72.4 percent of the overall GDP in 2014-15. 7 As opposed to
the output, employment in this sector was a low 28.5 percent according to
3 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, “Millennium Development Goals, India
Country Report 2015,” http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/mdg_26feb15.pdf
4 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Union, African Development Bank and
United Nations Development Programme, “MDG Report 2015 Lessons Learned in Implementing
the MGDs,” http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/MDG_
Report_2015.pdf
5 Government of India, “The State of the Economy,” Economic Survey, 2013-14, http://indiabudget.
nic.in/es2013-14/echap-01.pdf
6 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Union, African Development Bank and
United Nations Development Programme, “MDG Report 2015”
7 Government of India, “The State of the Economy,” Economic Survey,2014-15, http://www.
indiabudget.nic.in/es2014-15/echapvol2-01.pdf
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