India to add 110m to global work force

India will likely provide the biggest increase to the global labour force over the next decade, adding an additional 110 million workers by 2020, a study said Wednesday.
The rise in workers is equivalent to the current combined population of Britain and South Korea.
The projection for India contrasts with forecasts by the International Labour Organisation that China's labour force will increase by just 15 million over the next decade while Japan's will fall by three million.
The changing demographics could add four percentage points of GDP growth to India's economy which is already expanding by more than eight percent, the Goldman Sachs report added.
It said manufacturing could create the jobs needed to absorb the rise in the workforce, but the country will need a "massive overhaul of its archaic labour laws and (make) a heavy investment in education and skills training."
Firms employing over 100 workers cannot make layoffs without government permission, which reduces incentives to invest in skill development, discourages economies of scale and inhibits competitiveness, the report said.
"Unless India reforms its labour laws, the industrial growth that is needed to absorb labour will remain in the realm of potential," warned Tushar Poddar, chief India economist at Goldman Sachs.
The report estimated that between now and 2030, India's labour force would mushroom by at least 210 million.