Labour Markets

India's vocational training system has expanded rapidly, but weak ITIs continue to undermine skill development. This article examines the gaps in training quality, industry linkages and employment outcomes, and outlines the reforms needed to make ITIs a credible pathway to skilled jobs.

While more young rural women are entering the workforce through skilling programmes, staying in formal employment remains a challenge. Drawing on research by JustJobs Network and PRADAN, this article explores the social, familial, and workplace barriers that shape women’s employment journeys and argues that skills alone are not enough without sustained support, safe migration pathways, and better job quality.

Urban women’s participation in India’s labour market remains limited despite rising overall female labour force participation. This article examines whether platform work can enable women’s economic empowerment. It finds that platforms often reproduce inequalities through unpaid care burdens, unsafe mobility, and weak protections. Without improved infrastructure, childcare, safety, and labour protections, it risks becoming digitised informality rather than a pathway to mobility.

Digital platforms are rapidly transforming work across Asia and the Pacific, offering flexible income opportunities while expanding service-led economic growth. However, the rise of gig and platform work also raises concerns about worker protections, income stability and the need for updated labour regulations.

The State of Finance in India- Report 2024–25 highlights the growing vulnerabilities of India’s gig and platform workers. In her chapter, Sabina Dewan examines how digital platforms are reshaping labour relations and protections, underscores critical policy gaps and calls for a more equitable framework for platform-based work.

JustJobs Network has been cited by Meghalaya Monitor, with the article noting that JJN's analysis converges with the ILO (International Labour Organization) and India's own gig-economy policy discussions on a key idea: social protection must become a universal floor linked to citizenship or residency, with contributions from workers, firms and the state, and with portability across jobs, sectors and states.

JJN's Isha Gupta provides crucial insights into why participation among young jobseekers remains low, highlighting the structural barriers that continue to hold India's youth back from accessing meaningful internship opportunities.

India's rapid transition toward electric vehicles (EVs) is reshaping the country's industrial landscape and workforce dynamics. Yet we know surprisingly little about the broader impact of this shift on labour markets. JustJobs Network is seeking to address this knowledge gap through its leadership of the FutureWORKS Collective, an initiative funded by the International Development Research Centre. Our first project under the banner of decarbonization and jobs examines how this transition will affect regional economies and labour markets.