Low LFPR for Females in India

The lower LFPR or, the labour force participation rate for females in India is a point of grave concern, particularly, from the viewpoint of women empowerment. The LFPR shows the number of working people plus the number of job seekers per 100 of the population in the age group of 15 to 59 years.

According to the periodic labour force survey (2020-21), the LFPR for females in India was found to be 25.1 as against 57 for males in the country. Thus the LFPR for females is evidently less than even half of the LFPR for males. This has serious implications for not only the objective of women empowerment but also for the growth rate of the GDP. According to a research by Christine Lagarde and Erna Solberg, the GDP of India can increase by 27%, if the LFPR for females in the country becomes equal to that of the males.

There are multiple factors responsible for the low rate of the LFPR for females in India. The economic survey 2018-19 divides these factors into two categories namely the demand and the supply side factors. On the supply side, a quantum of factors has been cited such as the income effect of the MGNREGA scheme, increasing tendency of young females towards getting education, social responsibilities and social constraints, etc’. On the demand side, factors include a lack of part-time regular jobs and gender wage gap that includes occupational segregation in the country, etc’.