This paper analyses employment trends and addresses the problem of creating decent and productive employment in the non-agricultural sector during the first decade of the 21st century. Its primary interest is to examine the transition from informal employment in the unorganised sector towards formal employment in the non-agricultural organised sector. There has been a slight structural shift in employment away from agriculture towards the non-manufacturing sector. An interesting dimension about this transformation is the rising employment in enterprises employing 20 or more workers and a decline in employment in enterprises employing less than six workers. The second half of the decade (characterised by high growth rates) witnessed a decline in employment in the manufacturing sector, while there was stagnation in services sector employment. With the rise in participation in education (in particular female education), it is most likely that a larger number of educated youth, especially women, will be joining the labour force in future years, and given the fact that the highest open unemployment rate is among educated youth, this calls for more proactive policies towards employment creation in organised manufacturing and services sectors.
