New Delhi: Without leaving job creation to market forces, India needs to grow at 9% consistently for the next eight years to achieve near-full employment by 2017, a high-powered government panel has said.

The country will need policies with focus on unorganised sectors, employing 94-98% of the workforce, the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) said in its report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.

It said without changing basic policies “we shall have to wait till about 2017 for a near full-employment situation, only if our economy grows at 9% (on) average.”

The commission, headed by noted economist Arjun Sengupta, said, “Market forces alone may produce a high rate of expansion of India’s GDP, but for expanding employment a well-designed set of policies and programmes will have to be adopted and implemented.”

It said the share of informal workers in the workforce is not likely to decline.

“Hence the problems of quality employment will continue to persist,” it said.

The NCEUS, appointed in September 2004, completed its term on Thursday, almost coinciding with the UPA government’s tenure.