Labour Laws and the Trend of Security of Tenure, Paid Leave, and Social Security Provisions of Workers in India: An Enterprise-Level Analysis (2004–2024)

Since Independence, India has recognised the importance of decent work by ensuring job security, paid leave, and social security benefits through statutory provisions. However, these benefits largely remained confined to the formal sector, whose expansion was limited. During the neoliberal era, it was anticipated that labour law deregulation would boost the formal sector’s output and employment, expanding quality jobs with social protection. Recently, the emphasis of quality employment creation has shifted to entrepreneurship through incentives for greenfield enterprises. This article analyses trends in job security, paid leave, and social security benefits across enterprise types from 2004–2005 to 2023–2024, using NSSO Employment–Unemployment Survey and Periodic Labour Force Survey unit-level data to evaluate the linkage between labour law changes and expansion of quality employment.