BRICS Employment Working Group Concludes in India with Focus on Women Workforce and Digital Jobs
Primary region BRICS
Tags Economy · Policy
Regions BRICS · Asia
The Second BRICS Employment Working Group Meeting under India's 2026 presidency concluded in Thiruvananthapuram with deliberations on social security formalization, women's labor force participation, skills development, and digital technologies for gig and platform workers. Member states converged on expanding social protection coverage and addressing gender gaps in labor markets. India presented its feasibility study on a reference classification of occupations developed with the ILO. Countries shared national initiatives including India's NCS and e-Shram, Egypt's mobile training units, UAE's Wage Protection System, and Brazil's Equal Pay Law. India also advanced MSME cooperation under its BRICS chairship, having convened the first SME Working Group meeting on access to finance in April. The meeting reaffirmed BRICS members' commitment to building inclusive, resilient labor markets.
Strategic interpretation
India's use of the BRICS chairship to advance labor standards and MSME cooperation reflects its strategy to position BRICS as a platform for Global South economic governance, distinct from Western-dominated institutions like the ILO and WTO. The focus on women's workforce participation and gig worker protections addresses structural challenges common to all BRICS economies. While the working group's outcomes are non-binding, they build institutional capacity and shared frameworks that could eventually challenge Western labor standards regimes.