BHUBANESWAR: Odisha has emerged as one of the states with the highest incidence of minimum wage violation among casual workers, with 66 per cent of the workforce reportedly earning below the statutory minimum wage, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)-2025 has revealed.
The report released by State Bank of India on May 8, 2026, based on unit-level labour data merged with statewise minimum wage rates for 2022 sourced from the chief labour commissioner (central) said Odisha ranked among the worst-performing states in wage compliance, behind only Chhattisgarh where nearly 70 per cent of casual workers were found to be underpaid. Jharkhand followed closely with 65 per cent of casual workers receiving wages below the legal threshold.
The study highlighted “substantial interstate disparities” in minimum wage compliance across India’s informal labour market. Maharashtra and West Bengal also recorded significant levels of non-compliance, with nearly one-third of casual workers earning below mandated wage levels.
Using a logistic regression model to assess wage violations, the SBI report estimated that nearly 25 per cent of casual workers across the country were paid less than the statutory minimum wage, underscoring major gaps in labour law enforcement and wage protection mechanisms.
For Odisha, the findings assumes significance given the state’s heavy dependence on informal employment. The report noted that around 70 per cent of Odisha’s workforce falls under the informal category, placing the state 10th in terms of informal workforce share nationally.
Punjab topped the list with 82 per cent informal workers, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at 81 per cent each.
The report defined informal workers as those lacking social security coverage, written employment contracts and entitlement to paid leave. It observed that informal employment remains predominantly rural, with nearly 59 per cent of such workers located in rural areas. Agriculture accounted for the largest share of informal employment nationally at 42 per cent, followed by trade and hospitality at 17 per cent and other services at 14 per cent.
The SBI study has also flagged a sharp gender disparity in wage compliance. Female workers accounted for 45 per cent of all underpaid casual workers despite constituting only about 25 per cent of the casual workforce. Male workers, while representing roughly 75 per cent of the casual workforce, accounted for around 55 per cent of underpaid workers.
The PLFS-2025 survey covered a total of 22,594 first stage units (FSUs) across India, comprising 12,441 villages in rural areas and 10,153 urban blocks.
