Protests by factory workers in Noida have highlighted the economic struggles of India's manufacturing workforce. According to data from the 2025 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), a monthly salary of ₹18,735 puts a manufacturing salaried worker in the bottom 80% of their peers.
Only 16.5% of manufacturing workers have a written contract, and only about one in five have social security benefits and paid leave. Manufacturing workers who are self-employed earn less than both the average self-employed person in India and the salaried manufacturing worker.
Average wages for salaried manufacturing workers are higher than the economy-wide average for the 15–18-year cohort of workers. However, this advantage reverses as one moves toward older cohorts of workers. For workers above 40 years of age, average wages in manufacturing are almost 20% less than what the average salaried person in that age bracket earns.
The share of contract workers in India's factories has more than doubled since the turn of the century, from 20% in 2000-01 to 42% in 2023-24.
