Downturn in Wages in Rural India

This paper uses two sources of data, Wage Rates in Rural India (WRRI) of the Labour Bureau and the Periodic Labour Force Survey of the National Statistical Organisation to examine trends in rural wages from 2014-15 to 2022-23. The WRRI data show a stagnation of real wage rates with an annual growth rate of less than one per cent for almost all agricultural and non-agricultural occupations. In contrast, PLFS data show an early post-pandemic recovery and rapid rise in earnings for rural casual workers in recent years. The discrepancy in growth of wages as between WRRI and PLFS, especially in the last three years, is not easily explained and suggests we remain cautious in using PLFS data without further validation.