Mumbai, February 23 Cities in Tier II and III now account for nearly 70 per cent of the country's blue-collar workforce, driven by expanding job opportunities in sectors such as retail, BFSI, and engineering, manufacturing and industrial (EMPI), a report revealed on Monday.
The Quess Pulse Report shows that 70 per cent of jobs are now in non-metro India, with Tier III cities alone accounting for 40 per cent of employment and Tier II hubs accounting for a further 29 per cent compared to 31 per cent in Tier I.
The report is based on over 4.83 lakh blue-collar workforce job profiles across 640 locations on the Quess platform.
These opportunities are increasingly 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.
Retail, banking, financial services and insurance (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 II and III markets, powering everything from store operations and sales to plant and supply-chain roles, it stated.
The BFSI and manufacturing sectors account for over 45 per cent in Tier III towns, and retail accounts for 33 per cent, it added.
The report found that this shift beyond metros is mostly driven by the young and short-term workforce.
Across the 4.83 lakh workers studied, 64 per cent are under the age of 30, mirroring India's broader demographic dividend.
More than half of the workforce (55 per cent) has been in their current role for less than a year, reflecting high-mobility employment cycles driven by project-based staffing and seasonal demand, it added.
"India is seeing a clear change in where formal jobs are being created. Nearly 69 per cent of payroll-linked employment is now in Tier II and III cities (40 per cent) of the workforce. This reflects the decentralisation of opportunity driven by retail expansion, manufacturing corridors, and distributed service delivery, where day-to-day economic activity is taking place," Quess Corp Chief Executive Officer Lohit Bhatia said.
In H1 FY26, out of the 26,000 new Universal Account Numbers (UANs) facilitated, 23 per cent consist of women, bringing workers into PF, ESI, and statutory protections.
Of these, 30 per cent originated from Tamil Nadu, 27 per cent from Karnataka, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, mirroring national EPFO trends where 6.9 million net jobs were added April-July 2025, 45 per cent for youth.
"This shift towards organised work outside metros is an important part of building a stronger labour market and supporting the larger India growth story," Bhatia added.