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IZA Discussion Paper No. 18824
July 2026
Pathways to Jobs: A Review of India's Labour Reforms
Farzana Afridi, Arjita Chandna, Aliva Smruti, Jayanta Talukder, Jyoti Thakur

India faces a persistent challenge in generating formal sector, productive jobs for its growing workforce. The four new Labour Codes enacted in November 2025, seek to address the structural imbalance in its workforce by simplifying 29 pre-existing laws into a coherent framework to support job creation, formalisation and improve social protection of workers. In this paper, we unpack and examine each of the four Labour Codes within a unified framework, that includes discussion of the key legal provisions, the chronology of state-level implementation of the code and detailed exposition of potential impacts on employment and worker productivity. The main analytical inferences for each Code are derived from the existing theoretical and empirical research on labour reforms, with a specific focus on the experience of states within India. Based on the extensive review, the paper concludes by making specific policy recommendations on the effective implementation of the new labour codes.

Kommunikation
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer-ext@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
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Christina Gathmann
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