CHANGE OF GUARD

THE WORKFORCE PROFILE IS TURNING INTO A DEEPER SHADE OF MILLENNIAL-GENZ, WITH WOMEN EMERGING AS MORE ASPIRATIONAL THAN THEIR PREDECESSORS. BUT THE COUNTRY'S PLUNGING FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION PAINTS A DIFFERENT PICTURE. THE CHANGING DYNAMICS STAND IN SHARP CONTRAST

- VIDYA S.

THE OLDEST MILLENNIAL turns 42 this year, while the youngest will celebrate their 27th birthday soon. This means that millennials-those born between 1981 and 1996-are now well into the workforce. And GenZ (those born between 1997 and 2012) will start edging out GenX (those born between 1965 and 1980) from the workforce in a few years. That is, we have a largely different workforce today, most of whom are digital natives and have all gone through a habit-altering pandemic that has opened up newer ways of working.

"At the individual level, I find that there is a lot more confidence in the youth and a lot more confidence in the women now," says Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys and Chairman of Axilor Ventures.

The 300 million women of this millennial-GenZ cohort tend to come with more advantages and different priorities than their predecessors. As individuals, they are seen as being more educated, financially independent, digitally and financially savvier, and more career-oriented. "Two good things have happened recently. The younger women are a lot more aspirational, and now there is the advantage of a flexible work system or work-from-home," says Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, and a millennial.

Yet, despite India's growing economic prosperity, the larger picture is very different. While the Indian economy has grown more than 10 times since 1990, its female workforce participation has fallen from 30 per cent in 1990 to 19 per cent as of 2021. The fall has been particularly steep in the past 15 years when female labour participation plunged from 32 per cent in 2005 to 19 per cent in 2021, shows World Bank data. During that time, the economy nearly quadrupled.