Trends in Urbanization and Employment Growth in India

Abstract

Urbanization, employment growth and poverty removal are inter-related processes and the relationship between these processes on the one hand and economic growth on the other has been attracting attention of economists and other social scientists. In the Indian context, the percentage of urban population in the total population has been growing since 1951 and the growth during the decade 2001-2011 has been phenomenal. Demographers point out that growth of new Census Towns (CT) is a major reason for rapid increase in urban population in recent times. Structural transformation of Indian economy in which service sector grows rapidly and manufacturing sector grows only marginally is reported in studies. Informalisation of employment is increasingly reported in recent years. Informal nature of employment which prevailed in unorganized sector is spreading to organized sector also. A disturbing fact is about 93 percent of total workforce is in informal employment in India. The effects of economic growth on urban and rural poverty reduction are getting increasing attention from researchers. Urban growth is found to be a source of rural poverty reduction. These trends deserve more research attention in the context of recent policy initiatives like ‘Make in India', ‘Smart Cities' and ‘Digital India'.