Indian Workers Could Fill 50 Million Jobs Abroad By 2030: Report
India has a significant opportunity to emerge as a major supplier of global talent, with high-income nations expected to face a staggering shortage of 45 to 50 million workers by 2030, according to global consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG). More than half of these roles are projected to be blue-collar jobs.
BCG’s Managing Director and Senior Partner, Rajiv Gupta, revealed the findings during the launch event of the GATI Foundation in New Delhi on Tuesday. He highlighted that around 20 countries would account for 90% of this demand.
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The United States is projected to require the largest share, with an estimated need for 11 to 12 million workers, followed by the United Kingdom with 5 to 6 million, reported The New Indian Express.
Gupta identified other countries, including Germany, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Russia, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, as having high future labour needs, driven primarily by ageing populations and declining birth rates.
He pointed out that economies in countries like Japan, South Korea, Germany, and countries across Western Europe will open up due to an ageing population in the future.
To harness this opportunity, he proposed the development of an institutional framework supported by Indian embassies and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) cadre. This would include setting up a dedicated promotion unit under ‘Talent India’ to market Indian talent abroad through roadshows, targeted meetings, and awareness campaigns, he stated.
Gupta cited the success of a recent migration agreement between Germany and the state of Kerala, which enabled 528 nurses to find employment across 12 German states in 2024, as a model that could be replicated.
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However, he also warned of several challenges that obstruct the movement of Indian workers, such as the high cost of acquiring globally recognised skills and education.
Gupta urged the Indian government to intervene with financial assistance and offer low-interest loans or scholarships to make global upskilling more accessible.
