Delhi at No. 2 in blue-collar workforce

BENGALURU: Next to Bengaluru, Delhi employs the secondhighest blue collar labour force in India. The city employs 2.3 lakh blue collar workers in startup/urban-centric jobs that have been created because of the new-age gig economy model, according to a survey from blue-collar job aggregator BetterPlace, which sourced data of 11 lakh respondents.

Workers in construction, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and other traditional sectors have not been included in the survey. Independent businesses, SMEs and MSMEs are also not included and the data is limited to jobs sourced via large tech-aggregators/startups.


And the split-up for Delhi is Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, Food Panda and others employ 86,019 delivery boys while the likes of Ola, Uber, other taxi aggregators employ 64,514 drivers. About 37,633 work as security guards, 26,881 facility personnel, 2,688 beauticians, 2,707 maintenance workers and 5,376 pre-school workers in the capital. Compared with Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon employ less individuals. Noida employs 85,460 blue-collar workers, while Gurgaon employs 50,690 workers.

The majority of blue-collar workers (35%) earn Rs 15,000-25,000, but there is a percentage of workers who make more than 30K a month. On average, 14% of blue-collar workers at startups earn Rs 30,000 a month; about 16% earn Rs 25,000-30,000; about 20% earn Rs 20,000-25,000 and 15% make Rs 10,000-15,000.

When it comes to the age group, the ratio is skewered towards youngsters. About 64% of the blue-collar workforce pan-India is between the age 24 and 38 years, 16% between 18 and 23 years, 10% between 39 and 43, 8% between 44-54 and 2% above 52 years of age. Pan-India, 96% of the workforce in blue-collar jobs is male, with only certain sectors like the beauty and services sector having a higher percentage of women.

And where does Delhi gets its migrant labour force from? Delhi gets as high as 55% of its workforce from Uttar Pradesh, 17% from Bihar, 6% from Haryana and 5% from Rajasthan, followed by Kerala (3%), Madhya Pradesh (3%), Uttarakhand (2%), Jharkhand (2%), West Bengal (1%), Punjab (1%), etc. When it comes to a city-wise split-up, Loni is the highest contributor to Delhi's workforce at 3.2%, followed by Aligarh (1.5%), Mainpuri (0.9%), Chapra (0.75%).

“Of the 14 lakh urban workers in metros, there is a 4% high-earning aspirational set of workers, who takes up two or more jobs to earn higher. This trend, we see more in Delhi and Mumbai. We have interviewed a plumber, who works an 8-hour shift for an MNC during the day and drives an Ola car by night. We have also interviewed Ola drivers, who start out with one car. Earn enough to buy more cars and today run a fleet of 4-10 cars. Upskilling also happens a lot in Delhi, where delivery boys take courses and acquire skills to become warehouse managers, accountants or supervisors," said Pravin Agarwala, CEO and cofounder, The Better Place.

Another trend from Delhi is that Delhi is not a supplier of migrant labourers. It is more a dominant employer of migrant labourers. When it comes to supply of migrant workers to other states - the top states are Uttar Pradesh (17%), Andhra Pradesh (17%), Assam (13%), Odisha (11%), Bihar (11%), West Bengal (4%), followed by Rajasthan (3%), Tamil Nadu (3%), Jharkhand (3%) and Delhi (3%).