Vinod Kumar, 40, works for eight hours a day as a security guard in a
park under the Delhi Development Authority for a monthly wage of ₹9,000, a job he got by paying a commission of ₹8,000 to a contractor.

His wife works in a grocery store for a monthly salary of ₹8,000. Both fail to meet the household expenses that include the education of their two children.

“My son, who is studying in Class XII, says he will do a temporary job while
pursuing his education,” said Kumar, one of the innumerable workers slogging in low-paid jobs, a trend that is only increasing.

The number of adults engaged in low-paid employment has increased in South Asia between 2010 and 2023, according to the Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 (GET for Youth) report released on Monday by UN labour arm International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Low-paid employment refers to jobs that payless than two-thirds of the median monthly wage. The report has taken the simple averages of existing country-level data in 2010 or the nearest year and 2023 or the nearest year.

The most sizeable improvements in terms of reducing the share of youth in low-paid work were found in the United States. While 30 per cent of adults were engaged in low-paid jobs in 2010, their share has been reduced to 26.3 per cent in 2023.

In South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), the percentage of adults engaged in low-paid jobs has increased by one percentage point from about 20 per cent in 2010, the report said.

“In high-income countries, about three in four young adults will find a secure
job (with a paying employer and long-term contract), while in a low-income country, the share falls to less than one in five. This means that, outside high-income countries, most young adults are not accessing jobs that can set them on a route towards income security in adulthood,” said the report.

The report cautions that the number of 15-24-year-olds who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) is concerning globally. The 2023 youth unemployment rate, at 13 per cent, represents a 15-year low and a fall from the pre-pandemic rate of 13.8 per cent in 2019. It is expected to fall further to 12.8 per cent this year and the next, the report said.

The report said continuing high NEET rates and insufficient growth of decent jobs were causing growing anxiety among today’s youth. The report recommended increased investment, including in boosting job creation with a specific target on jobs for young women, integrating employment and social protection for youth, and public-private partnerships and financing for development.