Overview
- The Foundation for Economic Development, using PLFS 2023–24 data, reports that about 64% of workers earn less than the legal minimum, showing the wage floor sits above typical pay in much of the economy.
- The analysis finds roughly half of workers could not be legally hired even after a 30% raise, which blocks many first-time and low-skill workers from entering formal jobs.
- India’s wage floor equals about 1.7 times median casual earnings and roughly 77% of monthly per‑capita GDP, far above the near‑50% levels in key export rivals, which the report links to a $60 billion shortfall in labour‑intensive exports.
- The report describes how firms faced with a wage floor above productivity cut hiring, prefer more‑skilled staff, automate, relocate, or move work off the books, helping keep informality near 88–90% of the workforce.
- The group recommends negotiated pay, region‑specific wage floors, and targeted wage subsidies to expand formal jobs as India adds 8–10 million workers each year.