Nithin Kamath, entrepreneur and co-founder of Zerodha, recently shared his surprise at the World Bank’s data on India’s female labour force participation (FLFP). According to the report, the FLFP rate among Indian females is 24% for 2022, while it is 73.6% among males. Kamath took to social media to express his concerns and highlighted the need to empower women to join the workforce in order to boost the country’s economic growth.
Kamath pointed out that India’s FLFP is among the lowest in the world and noted that it had declined from approximately 30% in the 90s to 20% and then rose to the current 24%. He compared India’s FLFP rate to that of Bangladesh, which has similar demographics but has a higher FLFP rate. This led him to examine the relationship between FLFP and per capita GDP.
Kamath discovered that the relationship tends to be U-shaped, meaning that while distress or need-driven employment is more common at lower income levels for both females and children, as income levels rise, this type of employment reduces, resulting in a decline in FLFP. Only when women enter the labor force voluntarily, rather than out of distress, does FLFP start to rise again.
Kamath’s findings align with the International Labour Organization’s report, which highlighted the drop in female labor force participation in India despite strong economic growth and rising wages and incomes. The report stated that female participation rates decreased from 34.1% in 1999-00 to 27.2% in 2011-12, with significant variations between urban and rural areas. While the participation rate for rural women decreased, the rate for urban women increased slightly.
One of the reasons for the decline in FLFP in India is that women tend to contribute more to household work, leading to overwork and their inability to sustain employment. Kamath’s call to empower women in the workforce reflects the need to address this issue and increase opportunities for women to participate in the labor force. By doing so, India can potentially achieve higher economic growth.
In conclusion, Nithin Kamath highlights the low female labor force participation in India and emphasizes the need to empower women to join the workforce. He discusses the relationship between FLFP and per capita GDP and the impact of distress employment. The International Labour Organization’s report on the drop in FLFP despite economic growth reinforces the importance of addressing this issue to aid India’s economic development.+
