The Economic Survey 2020-21 states that the years 2019 and 2020 are landmark years in the history of labor reforms.
Key takeaways
The country saw nearly 29 Central Labour laws being amalgamated, rationalized, and simplified into four labor codes viz.:
the Code on Wages, 2019,
the Industrial Relations Code, 2020,
the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and
the Code on Social Security, 2020
COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of urban casual workers, who account for 11.2% of the urban workforce (All-India) as per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), January-March, 2020.
Industry-wise estimates on workforce show that ‘Agriculture’ is still the largest employer with 42.5% of the workforce.
The next important industry is ‘other services’ where 13.8% were engaged.
