Abstract:A slew of studies provide evidence that India's economy started growing at an accelerated rate consequent to the launch of reforms in the economy in early 1990s. But has favourable quantitative and qualitative changes occurred in the labour market consequent to the acceleration in the growth rate in the economy in the reforms era? This paper analyses the changes in India's labour market in the reforms era vis-à-vis the pre-reforms era by drawing on official data. Specifically, the paper seeks to capture changes in employment and unemployment, structural change in the labour market, changes in informal and formal employment, changes in real wage rates and incidence of working poor in the economy. The paper has also tried to examine the changing role of the state towards labour in the reforms era.

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