A new analysis reveals that Haryana spearheaded the growth in India's unincorporated non-agricultural employment in 2025, while Gujarat faced a significant downturn, highlighting shifting dynamics in the nation's informal job market.
Key Points
- Haryana led major states with a 29.8 per cent growth in informal employment, reaching 3.1 million workers in 2025.
- Gujarat experienced the sharpest decline in informal employment, contracting by 12.6 per cent to 8 million workers.
- Uttar Pradesh added the largest absolute number of informal jobs (2.56 million), with its workforce growing 16 per cent to 18.6 million.
- Maharashtra, Kerala, and Odisha also saw contractions in their informal workforces.
- Uttarakhand and Delhi showed the highest growth in worker productivity (GVA per worker), while large informal employers like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh lagged behind the national average.
Among major states employing more than 2 million workers, unincorporated non-agricultural employment in Haryana grew at the fastest pace in 2025, while Gujarat saw the sharpest contraction, according to an analysis based on the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2023-24 (October 2023-September 2024) and 2025 (January-December).
While such employment in Haryana grew 29.8 per cent to 3.1 million in 2025, Gujarat saw a decline of 12.6 per cent to 8 million during the same period.
State-wise Employment Trends
Uttar Pradesh, which anchors the country's informal workforce with 18.6 million workers in 2025, saw employment grow 16 per cent and added the largest absolute number of jobs among states at 2.56 million.
Jharkhand (19.4 per cent), Rajasthan (15.3 per cent), and West Bengal (10.4 per cent) also posted strong employment gains, with West Bengal's 13.3 million workers making it the second-largest informal employer in the country in 2025.
Apart from Gujarat, Maharashtra — the third-largest informal employer — also shed workers, with employment falling 3.7 per cent to 11.7 million.
Employment in Kerala (-4.95 per cent) and Odisha (-3.04 per cent) also contracted in 2025.
Establishment Growth and Decline
Among major states with more than 1 million establishments, Haryana posted the sharpest expansion in establishments at 21.8 per cent, followed by Jharkhand (19.6 per cent), Rajasthan (18.3 per cent), and Uttar Pradesh (16.6 per cent) in 2025.
At the other end of the spectrum, Gujarat — among the largest contributors to informal establishments nationally — saw its establishment count fall 5.7 per cent to 4.38 million.
Odisha shed 7.6 per cent of its establishments, while Chandigarh (-25 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (-0.59 per cent) also recorded declines.
Worker Productivity Insights
When it comes to worker productivity, measured as gross value added (GVA) per worker, the geography of winners shifts considerably.
Uttarakhand saw the steepest rise among major states, with GVA per worker climbing 29 per cent to Rs 2.09 lakh.
Delhi's informal workers are among the most productive in the country, generating Rs 2.49 lakh per worker annually, a jump of nearly 22 per cent over 2023-24.
Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest growth rate among all states at 36.5 per cent, though from a smaller base.
The contrast with employment-heavy states is stark.
West Bengal, with 13.3 million informal workers, generates only Rs 1.18 lakh per worker, well below the national average of Rs 1.57 lakh.
Bihar's 6.3 million workers produce Rs 1.3 lakh each.
Uttar Pradesh, despite its scale, stands at Rs 1.26 lakh per worker, trailing the national average despite being the country's largest informal employer by a wide margin.
Among these states, Gujarat recorded a 12.3 per cent decline in GVA, making it the only state to register a decline across all three dimensions.
Odisha, too, registered declines in both scale and employment.
