Employee compensation up 13%

Average annual employee compensation at unincorporated enterprises rose 13% to Rs 1.4 lakh per head during the October 2023-September 2024 period compared to a year earlier, official data released on Tuesday showed.

Enterprises in the manufacturing sector saw a rise of 16.1% in emoluments, followed by trade at 14% and services sector at 10.4%, the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2023-24 factsheet showed.

Emoluments refer to payments made by establishments to the workers such as salary/wages, bonus, etc, in either cash or kind. It also includes the employer's contribution to ESIC (Employees State Insurance Corporation) fund, provident fund, and other social security benefits.


The data showed significant divergence between compensation of formal and informal workers.

Formally hired workers in the services sector were paid more. Their average emoluments grew to ₹3 lakh in the period under review from ₹2.6 lakh in 2022-23, marking a 16.9% increase. The manufacturing sector saw the highest growth at 34.6%, reaching ₹2.6 lakh in 2023-24. In the trade sector, emoluments rose to ₹2.4 lakh from ₹1.9 lakh.

The story is different for those hired as informal workers where the average compensation is higher in the manufacturing sector. The emoluments per informal hired worker in the manufacturing sector rose 15.3% on year to ₹1.28 lakh in 2023-24 from ₹1.11 lakh. The trade sector followed with a 13.3% increase, while services saw a 12.3% rise. However, the labour productivity declined for the manufacturing sector, data showed.

The gross value added (GVA) per worker in the manufacturing sector fell by 4.2% in 2023-24 compared to the previous year. It rose for trade and services at 10.6% and 6.1%, respectively.

Overall, GVA per worker increased by 5.6% to ₹1.5 lakh in 2023-24.