To find the right man for the right job, the majority of companies prefer to approach agencies instead of hiring permanent workers. With organic growth in the organised sector, the flexi-staffing industry is set to represent 10 per cent of the organised workforce by 2025.

This will catapult the flexi-staff industry from 1.3 million workers to 9 million. With the retail, telecom, manufacturing, pharma, hospitality and agriculture sectors increasingly going flexi, a new study finds that of the total flexi workforce, 82 per cent are under 30 years old, earning an average of Rs 10,000 a month.

India is among the top five nations in terms of flexi worker base, but among the lowest in terms of penetration at 0.32 per cent. India is also among the five least protected countries when it comes to flexi workforce in spite of having an elaborate regulatory framework.

500 million jobs by 2022

Around 27 per cent of Indians joined the flexi workforce due to lack of any alternative opportunity in the formal sector, according to the study by the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF). Most flexi jobs in India continue to be at the lower end of the skill spectrum, such as data operations, accounts, sales, back-end operations, administration and marketing.

The Union Minister of Labour and Employment, Mallikarjun Kharge, unveiled the report at a recent event. Kharge said the government is providing training to almost 13.5 lakh people in 2011-12, with almost 10,000 ITIs being modernised.

The tripartite labour conference also focussed on creating 500 million jobs by 2022, the minister added. On the release of the report, K. Pandia Rajan, president, ISF, said: “Companies need flexibility to remain competitive, and in the absence of the right environment, work tends to go casual, thereby denying the employee a secure job.”

>amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in

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