Abstract
This paper empirically explores two questions : has there been a skill-biased growth of the workforce in India in the later part of the 1990s? And if so, was this shift due to skill-biased technical change? A definite movement towards skill-based workforce in the later part of the 1990s was observed. This was true for all one-digit industry groups and also when disaggregated by location (rural/urban), gender and status (regular/casual). Overall, the influence of technical change on the growth of skill-based workforce was clearly found. When this result was disaggregated, it was found that male workers and urban workers were more likely to have had a skill-biased technical change and an increase in the demand for skilled workers. Further, by industry group, skill-biased technical change and an increase in the demand for skilled workers was mainly in manufacturing and all the service sectors.