Towards an Employment-Oriented Export Strategy: Some Explorations

India currently faces a major challenge of employment generation for millions of its unskilled and semi-skilled unemployed workers. The employment in the organized sector has shrunk in the recent years despite acceleration in GDP growth. India needs a manufacturing revolution to complement the booming services sector to meet the challenge of employment creation. Some countries like China, Malaysia, Thailand, among others have built export-oriented manufacturing industries and have created millions of job opportunities, while generating output and foreign exchange. Export-oriented production has a huge potential for generating jobs. However, very little information has been available on the role that exports play in employment generation and policies that may help in that respect. This Report, prepared by RIS at the request of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, explores into the role that exports can play in employment generation. It discusses the analytical issues in linking exports and employment generation and summarizes the international experiences on the subject. It makes the first exploratory attempt at estimating the role that export oriented industry is playing in job creation and its potential. It outlines an employment oriented export strategy that will not only strengthen India’s place in international division of labuor but can also improve the condition of its unemployed youth and generate new income and wealth. The government has taken cognizance of its findings and recommendations in the recent policy-making. Towards an Employment-Oriented Export Strategy will be useful for policy makers, think-tanks, business professionals and development economists.