K. V. Ramaswamy (Ed.): Labour, employment and economic growth in India

Abstract

This timely and extremely interesting collection of papers on labour, employment and economic growth by K. V. Ramaswamy will be of keen interest to an interdisciplinary lot of social scientists: obviously economists, and also, sociologists (gender discrimination), geographers (inter-state variations) and legal scholars (Supreme Court decisions). The reason I say timely is because these scholarly essays critically update our knowledge on what has transpired in the Indian labour market during the last two decades in one elegantly produced volume. At the outset, let me state that I needed to be updated, and hence found reading through the various essays very rewarding. I will be undoubtedly using many of these essays in my courses. The book consists of two parts. Part 1 on economic development and employment consists of seven papers and Part 2 on employment and labour law consists of four papers. Part 1 opens with an introduction and a succinct review of the papers in this collection by the editor that sets the stage on what is to follow. Given that India needs to create 10 million new jobs annually for the next 10 years to keep absorbing additions to the working age population, the invariable question arises: what limits both the growth of manufacturing and as well as employment in this sector in India? The popular perception is that Indian economic growth has been ‘jobless’ in the manufacturing sector and employment expansion in the services sector is only a recent phenomenon. A range of labour market issues arises in the context of this background during the last two decades. Specifically, the withdrawal of large numbers of female rural workers from the labour force, wage and employment discrimination against women workers in the overall economy, the existence of de facto flexibility in spite of rigid employment protection legislation that has facilitated economic growth, and lastly the perception that the judiciary/courts have become ‘pro-employers’ during the last two decades. All these are empirical questions that are examined using the most recent available databases in the essays. The first paper by Thomas presents an informative overview of the labour market during the 2000s based on the NSSO employment and unemployment reports. Three significant facts are emphasized: (1) for the first time, an absolute decline in the size of the agricultural workforce has occurred (2009–2010 survey), (2) there has been a substantial increase in the student population, especially among females in the rural sector, and (3) during 2004–2012, the construction sector generated half of the incremental non-agricultural employment growth in India and all of rural employment growth. Against this backdrop the author examines two contending hypotheses of ‘jobless growth’ versus ‘structural shifts’ in the labour market and believes D. Bhattacherjee (&) Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata, India e-mail: debashish@iimcal.ac.in