Arguably, the debate around trends in Indian women’s employment is only outclassed by a similar one regarding trends in poverty. Unfortunately, the scrutiny of the measurement of poverty is not matched by similarly close attention to the measurement of employment.
The broad contours of the debate, mainly relying on data from the National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS), are the following: the work participation rate for women ages 15 and above fluctuated around 42% between 1993-94 and 2004-05, declined to 28% in 2011-12, and plummeted to 22% in 2017-18. From 2017, it miraculously surged, and reached 36% in 2022-23.
