TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Afridi, Farzana
AU  - Chandna, Arjita
AU  - Smruti, Aliva
AU  - Talukder, Jayanta
AU  - Thakur, Jyoti
        TI  - Pathways to Jobs: A Review of India's Labour Reforms
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18824
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18824
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - labor reforms
KW  - minimum wage
KW  - social security
KW  - industrial relations
KW  - occupational safety
KW  - employment
KW  - labour productivity
KW  - India
        ER  -