In India, a Job Paradox; Despite Economic Surge, Many Workers Still Lack Steady Pay
Bhiwandi, India -- AS INDIA FACES criticism for luring white-collar jobs away from the U.S., what is sometimes lost is the larger challenge for India: Generating enough work for its own citizens.</br></br>The workers at the center of the outsourcing uproar -- software engineers, customer-service agents, claims processors -- now number roughly one million, a small fraction of the country's work force of more than 400 million people. So while India's economy has shown impressive growth over the past year, beneath the numbers lies a paradox.</br></br>For many Indians, the economy's resurgence isn't translating into the one thing they want most -- a steady paycheck. In fact, India has seen a marked decline in the number of jobs at companies with more than 10 employees in recent years.</br></br>Sarwan Kumar is typical. He is one of the hundreds of millions who work in the so-called unorganized sector, which accounts for 92% of India's jobs. They are farmers, street vendors, truck drivers, traders or, like Mr. Kumar, migrant laborers. All have little or no job security.</br></br>Mr. Kumar, now in his 20s, left his home in North India to become a loom worker in Bhiwandi, a dusty industrial town outside Bombay. When the local candidate for India's ruling party came looking for votes here in the national election now under way, he didn't find many takers. For these migrant workers, little has changed during the present government's tenure.