# 79 years of work: How India’s job market transformed from security to skills 2026-08-10T11:21:19+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet A new analysis of India's 79-year job history reveals five distinct phases, from government-and-agriculture security (1947-1990s) to the liberalisation-era IT boom and today's AI-disrupted gig economy. Anurag Malik of EY India notes that in 1983, 70% of workers depended on inherited farmland; by 2005, trade had surged from 15% to 34% of GDP. But the gains are uneven: 88% of workers remain in low-competency jobs, and 29% of young graduates are unemployed, per ILO data. Akash Kumar, a former Google and Amazon recruiter, warns that even premium white-collar roles are vanishing to automation, pushing more workers toward freelancing. The pattern, Malik explains, shifted from lifetime government or farm employment to a market where skills, not tenure, determine earnings. Yet the foundational problem persists: India's workforce lacks the competencies that modern employers demand, a gap that the AI revolution is widening. ## Coverage - economictimes.indiatimes.com Tags: AI disruption, gig economy, ILO report, India employment, job market, skills gap Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/79-years-of-work-how-indias-job-market-transformed-from-security-to-skills/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/79-years-of-work-how-indias-job-market-transformed-from-security-to-skills/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.