@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp17842,
            	author={Afridi, Farzana},
            	title={The Landscape of Self-Employment in India: Trends, Constraints and Policy Prescriptions},
            	year={2025},
	month={Apr},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={17842},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17842},
	abstract={This paper assesses the structure and quality of self-employment in India over a decade. India, historically, has had a much larger share of workers who are self-employed and a smaller proportion of wage and salaried workers. This structure of labour force participation has not shifted much in decades. In recent years, the proportion of self-employed has risen relative to the pre-pandemic era, and much more so for women. At the same time, significant underemployment accompanies low earnings of the self-employed. The paper highlights three key constraints for improving the quality of or transitioning out of self-employment – vocational skilling, access to formal credit and legal support for entrepreneurship. It concludes by discussing the implications of technological change and digitization for self-employment and the need for reforming the legal framework of self-employment in India.},
	keywords={quality of work;gender;trends;self-employment;India},
            }