India's Tier-2 and 3 cities account for 70 pc workforce: Report

Around 70 per cent of jobs in India are hosted in non‑metro India, with Tier‑3 cities alone accounting for 40 per cent of employment and Tier‑2 hubs a further 29 per cent compared with 31 per cent in Tier‑1 cities, a report said on Monday.

The staffing firm Quess Corp said in the report that The BFSI & Manufacturing sectors contribute to over 45 per cent of workforce from Tier 3 towns, while retail contributes 33 per cent.

These opportunities are concentrated around fast‑growing centres such as Coimbatore, Indore, Surat, Vadodara, Noida, and Lucknow, where expanding consumption and industrial corridors are reshaping local labour markets, the report said.

“The data reflects the decentralisation of opportunity driven by retail expansion, manufacturing corridors, and distributed service delivery,” said Lohit Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer, Quess Corp.

Retail, BFSI, EMPI/Manufacturing, telecom, FMCG/FMCD, and logistics together account for the vast majority of jobs and are also the primary engines of employment growth in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 markets.

Jobs span across sectors from store operations and sales to plant and supply‑chain roles, reflecting India’s growing formal workforce in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 India.

The study covering 4.83 lakh workers found that 64 per cent are under the age of 30 and 55 per cent of the workforce has been in their current role for less than a year, reflecting high‑mobility employment cycles driven by project‑based staffing and seasonal demand.

During H1 FY26, over 26,000 new Universal Account Numbers (UANs) were created, extending access to provident fund, ESI, insurance and other statutory benefits for previously informal workers.

“While UANs are being generated across the country, this formalisation is occurring alongside the sharp shift in workforce deployment toward Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 locations, linking employment growth outside metros with wider access to payroll‑linked social security,” the report said.