Wage Illusion |
India’s labour debate has long been trapped between two extremes. One side argues that higher wages inevitably kill jobs. The other assumes better pay alone can solve worker distress. Both positions ignore a deeper reality: India’s problem is not merely low wages, but an economy that has depended for decades on cheap and insecure labour to sustain growth. That model is now reaching its limits.
Even after years of headline GDP expansion, a vast section of India’s workforce remains outside stable salaried employment. Millions survive through informal work, casual labour, small-scale selfemployment, or seasonal agricultural activity. The contradiction is stark. India aspires to become a manufacturing and services powerhouse, yet nearly half its workforce remains tied to low-productivity agriculture. The result is stagnant earnings, weak domestic demand and rising economic insecurity despite visible national growth. This is the larger context in which the Code on Wages must be understood. The reform is not simply an administrative consolidation of labour laws.
It represents an attempt by the Indian state to redefine what formal employment should look like in a modern economy. For years, companies across........