Only 15.6 per cent of workers in India have a regular job

A mere 15.6 per cent of people in the working group in the country have regular employment while over 50 per cent of them are beloved to be "self-employed". A third of those employed are casual labourers.

At the national level, among all the workers, about 51.0 per cent were 'self-employed', about 33.5 per cent were 'casual labour' and 15.6 per cent were 'regular wage/salaried' employees, official data showed.

In the rural areas, about 54.2 per cent of the workers were 'self-employed', about 38.6 per cent were 'casual labourers' while 7.3 per cent were 'regular wage/salaried' employees. data collected in the 66th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) during July 2009 - June 2010 showed.

Among workers in the urban areas, about 41.1 per cent were 'self-employed', about 17.5 per cent were 'casual labourers' and 41.4 per cent were 'regular wage/salaried' employees.

Sector wise, 63 per cent of male workers in rural areas were engaged in the agricultural sector against 19 and 18 per cent, respectively, in the secondary and tertiary sectors. Nearly 79 per cent of female workers were engaged in agricultural sector while 13 and 8 per cent, respectively, were engaged in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

In contrast, in urban areas, the share of the tertiary sector was dominant - nearly 59 per cent of male workers and 53 per cent of the female workers. The secondary sector employed nearly 35 per cent of the male and 33 per cent of the female workers while the share of urban workforce in agriculture was nearly 6 per cent for male and 14 per cent for female.