The share of people employed in ‘supervisory and managerial’ roles in the formal manufacturing sector has declined over the past decade, an analysis of the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data for the period between FY14 and FY23 shows.

       Experts attribute the changing nature of the manufacturing workforce to the adoption of automation in various administrative job roles and increasing contractualisation by producers.

       Data shows that the share of people employed in ‘supervisory and managerial’ roles in relation to the total number of people engaged by the formal manufacturing sector has declined to 9.3 per cent in FY23 from 10.04 per cent in FY14. Correspondingly, the share of people employed as ‘workers’ has increased to 79.03 per cent from 77.15 per cent over the same period.

       PC Mohanan, former acting chairman of the National Statistical Commission (NSC), says that the adoption of newer technologies by manufacturers for roles such as account keeping, administration, and staffing has rendered many supervisory roles redundant.

       “The decline in administrative job roles has been observed for quite some time now. Besides, the increasing trend of contractualisation and outsourcing by producers as a measure to cut input costs implies that many managerial and supervisory roles no longer exist. While workers are needed to produce and operate machinery, supervisors are no longer required for them,” he adds.

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       Moreover, a sectoral analysis of the 29 major manufacturing industry groups reveals that, except for six industry groups engaged in the manufacture of food products, leather products, pharmaceuticals, non-metallic mineral products, other mining and quarrying, and publishing activities, the remaining industry groups followed this trend.

       Among major industry groups, the ‘manufacture of coke and refined petroleum product’ group has seen the highest decline in the share of supervisory and managerial job roles (from 16.99 per cent to 13.91 per cent), followed by industries engaged in manufacturing motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers (from 12.46 per cent to 9.44 per cent).

       On the other hand, industries engaged in ‘waste collection, treatment, and disposal activities’ have seen the highest increase in the share of these job roles (from 11.85 per cent to 18.17 per cent).

       The latest ASI data shows that employment generation in the manufacturing sector picked up slightly in FY23, with 1.3 million fresh jobs created in the sector and the total number of people engaged in the sector standing at 18.49 million.

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