 This was what Shanghai looked like 50 years ago and this is what it looks like today This amazing development required lots and lots of work hours and hours of labor Now for any country to develop everyone who can work needs to be gainfully employed not just Work but also get paid for it. Why because when they get paid they'll go out of shops buy the best fruits and vegetables They'll go and buy new cars They'll want to own homes Or they might simply let the hair down in a salon The more people work the more they're going to earn the more they're going to buy things and the more they buy things The more they'll be produced. This is a continuous circle It's a circle of production consumption and more production Which is what all modern societies and economies are based on now Obviously if a country is full of lazy people those who don't want to work it won't develop And that's what you always hear on WhatsApp groups on these WhatsApp chats Forwards taking place that because of freebies the poor in India have become lazy. They don't want to work They just want government handouts. Is that true? Are Indians really lazy? What does the data say watch till the end for the answer? But before that before we proceed we need to familiarize ourselves with three very simple concepts Which I'll be using throughout this video first is working-age population The second is the labor force and the third is labor force participation rate What is working-age population? Anyone in the country who's more than 15 years old It's assumed that anyone who's old more than 15 is able-bodied and can be gainfully employed The second is workforce. What is workforce? Workforces those who are actually looking for work are working or want work because not everyone would want work Young people especially those in their teens 15 to 19 years are likely to be enrolled in schools Very few of them would be looking for work. Then there are those between 20 to 24 Many of them would want to go to college going for higher studies So they too will not uniformly be looking for work Only those actually between the age of 25 to 65 who actively are looking for work want jobs Then there are those who are old more than 65 years old They're usually retired and they'd probably not work unless it's absolutely essential for them Then there are those who have disabilities or chronically ill have ailments who can't work And then there are those who have to run the home, run the family Mostly women in most countries who cannot go out to earn money They just simply don't have time to get paid work Which is why the labor force or those who are actively working or seeking work Is always smaller than the working age population Now comes the labor force participation rate Very simple concept is just the ratio between the labor force and the working age population How much of the working age population in percentage terms Is actually actively working or looking for work That's what the labor force participation rate is And we will be using this term repeatedly in this video The average labor force participation rate for the entire world Was about 61% before Covid hit us And in China it was higher at 69% In the USA it was 62% In the European Union as a whole it was 57% Now remember a large part of that population is more than 65 years old So they're likely to not be looking for work In India where we have a much higher younger population The labor force participation rate in 2019 was just 48% This is data modeled by the International Labor Organization or ILO If I take data from CMI which is collected regularly and published on a weekly basis Then the data is much much worse In February 2020 in India before Covid hit our country Our labor force participation rate was just 44% And that has dropped now to just 40% Globally 6 out of 10 people who can work Want to work they participated the labor force In China it's almost 7 out of 10 people In India it's just 4 out of 10 who want to work Please understand this these are not employment numbers These are not unemployment numbers These are just people who either have work or want to work That means that 6 out of 10 people who can work Who are part of the working age population in India Don't even look for work Does that mean that Indians are lazier than others Or are there deeper reasons for this The first big reason is that Indian women have among the lowest Labor force participation rates in the world And that brings the average down ILO's data tells us that in China nearly 70% of women who are above 15 years of age Participate in the labor force In the United Arab Emirates More than half the women of working age either work or want to work In India that number is just 22% Now if we take CMI's data It's going to turn out to be even worse In February 2020 before COVID hit us The labor force participation rate for women was just 12% Which means 1 out of 8 wanted paid work And that number has dropped to 10% in October 2022 Here's the comparison again In China 7 out of 10 women in the working age Want to work In India 1 out of 10 wants work Now some experts argue that this is because Indians have become more and more affluent And because of cultural reasons As soon as the male of the family earns enough to run the family The woman goes back into the house doesn't work anymore But if that was the case Then women should find it very easy to find work Especially in areas where women are preferred Because they would hardly have any competition But the exact opposite is true Women's unemployment right now is nearly 30% Which is more than 3 times male unemployment in India That means women have stopped looking for work Because they have no hope of getting work Now what about men? Let's start by comparing ILO's figures for 2019 The global average was 73% Labor force participation rate amongst men The labor force participation rate for Indian women Was exactly at that average point While China's was slightly higher at 75% CMI's data more or less confirms this number In the middle of 2019 About 72 to 73% of men of working age Were either working or wanted work And in February 2020 before Covid hit us It has dropped marginally to about 72% But this has steadily dropped over the past 2.5 years And now in October 2022 It stands at just 66% During this period The population of working age men has increased by 46 million If the labor force participation rate had been the same as it was in February 2020 There should have been an additional 33 million men wanting to work Instead that number has just risen by 1.3 million Which means effectively nearly 32 million working age men Have fallen out of the labor force They simply don't want to work Some would argue this has happened Because younger men now want to go in for higher studies Go to college So they are the people who have dropped out of the labor force But there is no evidence to show that If anything Anecdotal evidence tells us the exact opposite And data tells us the exact opposite as well Because unemployment amongst graduates Has increased dramatically over these 2.5 years It was 16% in February 2020 Now it has risen to 21% Which means young people have no incentive to go for higher studies So why are men dropping out of the workforce? I would argue this is because of the quality of work available to India's poor Not just the quality of work in terms of the salary and the conditions But also because it is such hard manual labor 35% of Indians are employed in agriculture Another 18% are employed in construction And another 18% are employed in trade Both wholesale and retail trade All of these are low paying All of these have relatively bad working conditions And at least two of them are back breaking A meta study from Europe says that a person working for 8000 agriculture Will burn 2880 calories on an average 8000 construction will cost them 2350 calories Now these are numbers for Europe Where there is a higher degree of mechanization And lower amount of manual work In India these numbers would be much higher Indian workers would need to consume much more higher levels of calories To sustain 8 hours of work in agriculture or in construction And this is over and above what they would need In terms of calories simply to exist to breathe and live What is known as the basal metabolic rate Adult men require between 1600 to 1800 calories Simply for their organs to function For them to be able to breathe for their heart to beat Without any exercise whatsoever So if we take the lower end of 1600 calories for BMR A farmer would need an additional 2880 calories every day To be able to function That is nearly 4500 calories A construction worker would need this 1600 plus 2350 calories every day On nearly 4000 calories This is much higher than the 2400 calories That are used to calculate poverty in India And what is recommended by the Indian council for medical research And of course it is much much higher than what India's poor actually get This is the biggest reason why India's poor are not looking for work They simply can't afford to work They don't get enough calories or nutrition for them to go And sustain 8 hours of heavy manual labor So what do they do to survive They're just grateful that the center and state governments give them handouts And what are known as freebies They're given some sort of cash transfers They're given some level of free ration Which allows them to sustain themselves Just about survive at a subsistence level Any work that they have to do Would require them to have much more calories than they get right now So they simply fall out of the workforce And here in our cities We sit and discuss on WhatsApp groups But the poor are so lazy They're so idle And they need a bit of a danda to make them work And only then will India progress So that's what we're caught between A large vast majority of poor people Living in wretched conditions on the one hand And an insensitive, affluent minority of rich people on the other And a media which keeps quiet about these things That's the show today Keep watching NewsClick Like our channel Subscribe to it Like this video Comment on it And share it as well