"Falling unemployment does not mean better jobs." Examine this claim using recent PLFS trends and the ILO concept of decent work.

The ILO defines decent work as productive work that offers fair income, security at the workplace, social protection and dignity [1]. It is the goal of SDG-8. India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) shows unemployment falling sharply, but job quality has not kept pace. The claim therefore largely holds.

PLFS trends: more people are working

• The unemployment rate (UR) (usual status, age 15+) fell from 6.1% (2017-18) to 3.2% (2023-24) [2].
• Female LFPR nearly doubled, from 23.3% to 41.7% [3].

Why lower unemployment does not mean decent work

• Measurement: usual status (ps+ss) counts anyone with even subsidiary work during the year as employed [2]. UR shows whether people have work, not how good that work is.
• Informality: about 90% of workers are informally employed, without contracts, paid leave or social security [4]. With weak safety nets, few people can afford to stay unemployed, so they take whatever work exists.
• Nature of women's work: the rise in women's employment has come mainly through self-employment and unpaid family work, not regular salaried jobs [4]. Female UR rose from 2.9% to 3.2% while male UR fell [2]. More women are entering the labour market than it can absorb.
• Gig economy: platform workers count as "employed", yet only about 5.12 lakh had registered on e-Shram by December 2025 [6]. The Code on Social Security, 2020 came into force only on 21 November 2025 and makes aggregators pay 1–2% of annual turnover into a social security fund [5].
• Economic cost: insecure workers save and spend less. This weakens consumption-led growth and leaves households exposed to shocks.

Where the claim needs qualification

• Entering work is the first step towards empowerment. Self-employment does give many women an income of their own.
• The Labour Codes and e-Shram are real steps towards formalisation [5].

India has created more work, but not yet more decent work. The way forward:

• MoSPI should publish a job-quality indicator (written contract, social security) alongside UR.
• Government should notify the aggregator-funded schemes and design contributory-plus-state cover for self-employed workers who have no employer to charge.
• Policy should push regular salaried jobs through labour-intensive manufacturing.

The tripartite Decent Work Country Programme 2023-27 already makes universal social protection a priority [7]. Judging success by job quality, not only by the unemployment rate, would fulfil Article 43's promise of a living wage and help achieve SDG-8.