The JustJobs Index (JJI) is a novel, data-driven tool designed to evaluate both the quantity and quality of jobs at the state level. Supported by the Azim Premji University and developed by the privately-operated JustJobs Network, this tool relies on government sources for its data collection. These sources include the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the Labour Bureau, the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the recently conducted Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). The JJI methodology covers five key employment dimensions: employment, formality, benefits, income equality, and gender equality.
Defining A Good Job
Employment in this context refers to factors like the labour force participation rate, the unemployment rate, and the youth unemployment rate. Formality pertains to the proportion of the workforce engaged in formal work, evidenced by written job contracts or regular wages, compared to those employed informally. Informal work may include self-employment, unpaid family work, or working for informal businesses.
Employee Benefits
This dimension measures the amount of social protection given to workers, factoring in state expenditure on pensions, unionization rates, and proportions of workers with pension funds. This measurement is especially critical in economies where extensive sections of the population are a single costly healthcare incident away from poverty.
Income Equality
Given that reliable income data is typically hard to find, the authors have utilized consumption data to calculate consumption-based inequality as an indicator of income inequality. Other indicators used include the ratio of minimum wages to average real wages and the ratio of informal wages to average wages.
Gender Equality
The gender equality dimension is quantified by using ratios of female-to-male employment rates, labour force participation rates, and wage differentials.
State Performance
Several states in India exhibit diverse performances across the different dimensions. Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, for instance, scored the highest on the employment indicator. Despite scoring high on employment, Gujarat experienced a decrease in job quality, contradicting its high economic growth rate.
On employment, Kerala scored poorly due to its high youth unemployment rate, particularly among university graduates. However, it performed well on formal employment. States like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand performed poorly due to the size of their informal agriculture and wholesale/retail sectors.
States with low unemployment rates like Chhattisgarh also faced issues with high informality, resulting in poor scores on the formality dimension. Conversely, states that performed poorly on employment, like Goa, managed to control informality better.
Employee Benefits and State Performance
| State | Performance |
|---|---|
| Jammu & Kashmir | Topped benefits index |
| Chattisgarh and Maharashtra | Best performance on income inequality |
| Kerala | Worst performance on income inequality |
| Himachal and Chattisgarh | Best performance on gender equality |
| Bihar and Uttar Pradesh | Lowest performance on gender equality |
Future Suggestions
Creating a National Employment Strategy with a three-pronged focus has been proposed. The first focus is on generating labour-intensive jobs in the industry and agriculture sectors. Second, investments in human capital are touted, especially in quality education and universal healthcare. Third, strengthening labour market institutions are proposed through simplifying and rationalising labour regulation and providing a national minimum wage. It has been recommended that these methods can be applied not only by the central government but also at state levels to enhance overall employment conditions.