Economic Survey 2024: Women empowerment improved, self-employment high in Himachal Pradesh, J&K

The trend of self-employment among rural women has remained consistently high in states like Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir over the years, revealed a survey by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). In 2022-23, Himachal Pradesh had the highest percentage of self-employed women at 88.8%, followed closely by Jammu & Kashmir at 95.4%. Delhi recorded the lowest percentage of self-employed women at 3.2%, the survey showed.

Key Findings:

1. Regular Wage/Salary Employment:

• Delhi had the highest percentage of women in regular wage or salaried employment at 96.8%.
• States like Bihar (5.3%) and Jharkhand (2.4%) had very low percentages in this category

      2. Casual Labour:

• Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had significant percentages of women working as casual labourers, at 46.1% and 44.6% respectively.
• Mizoram recorded the lowest percentage at 0.1%.

State-Specific Highlights:

• Assam: In 2022-23, 75.1% of women in rural Assam were self-employed, 18.8% were in regular wage employment, and 6.1% were casual labourers.
• Bihar: The self-employment rate among women was high at 71.4%, with 5.3% in regular wage employment and 23.3% in casual labour.
• Kerala: The employment distribution was relatively balanced with 39.3% self-employed, 33.0% in regular wage employment, and 27.6% in casual labour.

Trends Over the Years:

• Increasing Self-Employment: The trend of self-employment among rural women has remained consistently high in states like Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir over the years.
• Fluctuating Regular Wage Employment: States like Delhi and Haryana have shown variations in the percentage of women in regular wage employment.
• Casual Labour: The percentage of women in casual labour has seen shifts, with certain states like Tamil Nadu maintaining a high percentage.

Meanwhile, according to the economic survey for FY 2023-24 released earlier today, women's participation in India’s labour force has increased dramatically. The female labour force participation rate (LFPR) soared to 37% in 2022-23, up from a mere 23.3% in 2017-18—an impressive shift largely driven by rural women, who dominate in agriculture-related roles.

The economic survey highlights a significant rise in women entrepreneurship. Under the PM Mudra Yojana, 68% of loans were granted to female entrepreneurs. Similarly, 77.7% of beneficiaries of the Stand-Up India scheme are women. With the growth of digital literacy, women make up over half of the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Rural Digital Literacy Campaign.