Post-Reform Growth, Structural Transformation and Persistence of Surplus Labour in India and China: The Pre-Pandemic Years

In the decades preceding the pandemic, India and China were often posited as the ‘success stories’ of contemporary globalisation. High and sustained rates of growth of aggregate and per capita national income, phenomenal growth in trade and investment flows, and an absence of major financial crises in the first few decades subsequent to their opening up to the global economy were all invoked when characterising this success. However, as far as the impact of these changes on the nature and level of employment in these countries is concerned, there is a general consensus that employment outcomes have not been as favourable as expected based on conventional economic wisdom.