Towards Care Work and Care Jobs for The Future of Decent Work in India: Assessing The Coverage Gap of Care Service Provisions

Aims and Objectives:
The aim of the study was to assess the current state of care service provision in health and education sectors in India, and to project the future scenarios of care service needs under different conditions. The study sought to evaluate the job generation potential in the care sector, analyze the gender composition of the care workforce, and estimate the public investments required to meet national and global development targets, including those outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Methodology:
The study utilized data from the 2019-20 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), India. The National Industrial Classification (NIC)-08 and the National Classification of Occupations (NCO)-04 were employed to identify care and non-care workers in the education and health sectors. The study modeled various scenarios, including a status quo scenario with no improvements and high road scenarios where care service provisions are enhanced to meet SDG targets.

Findings:

• To meet the 2030 educational care policy target, India needs to recruit approximately 9.99 million additional care workers, including 5.29 million women and 4.70 million men.
• To achieve the 2030 universal health coverage target, India will require an additional healthcare workforce of over 12.51 million (7.01 million women and 5.50 million men).
• A total of 22.50 million new care jobs could be generated in education and health sectors by 2030 if policy targets are met.
• The expansion of care service provision would alleviate the burden of unpaid care work, predominantly borne by women, and contribute to achieving SDG targets related to education, healthcare, childcare, elder care, disability care, gender equality, and poverty alleviation.

Recommendations:

• Create gender-equitable decent work opportunities in the care sector within a rights-based framework that includes social protection and opportunities for dialogue.
• Recognize, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work to transform both paid and unpaid care work and care jobs.
• Increase public investments in care service provisions to meet national and global development targets by 2030.