Labour Force In India Research Articles

Application of ergonomic interventions in the informal sectors of India

A large proportion of the labor force in India (90%) is directly employed in the informal sector, which is notably higher than in othercountries. Most employees work on a contract or temporary basis. Labor laws are generally not applicable to informal sectors.Among them, there is a lack of awareness of occupational safety and health, which includes less attention to industrial hygiene, poorhousekeeping, and poor employee protection. In 2001, the problem of integrating the informal economy with the formal economy waswidely discussed at the International Labor Conference. We need to include one more issue: work comfort applications in the informalsectors. Many of these workers suffer from various types of work-related disorders. It is noted that through the use of low-cost measures, their conditions can be improved. Several interventions have been developed and applied across various informal sectors in India through an ergonomics-involved approach. A detailed study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of these interventions. It is necessary and important to apply precise interventions and find out the behavioral approaches of users to the use of interventions. As the informal sector grows steadily in various developing countries, ensuring the comfort of workers is becoming a challenge in these parts of the world. Surprisingly, low-cost health interventions can increase the productivity of the informal sector by up to 30%. Workrelated musculoskeletal disease (WMSD) is also prevented. Proper implementation of ergonomic interventions can ultimately improve the occupational health of informal workers as well as the nation's economy.

Labour force participation among the elderly in India: what does the latest data show?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the labour force participation among the elderly population (aged 60 and above) in India from data available for the most recent time periods. The paper reviews the types of employment, industries and occupations that the elderly in India are employed in presently and also examines the impact of different factors on the decision of the elderly to be a part of the labour force.Design/methodology/approachUnit-level data has been extracted from the most recent data available on employment and labour force in India provided by the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), from 2017 to 2018 to 2019–2020. Binary logistic regression model has been used to identify some of the socio-economic and demographic factors that influence the odds of the elderly being a part of the labour force along with the extent of their influence, and Wald statistic has been used to examine the dynamics.FindingsThe study finds that among the elderly population, males, individuals living in rural areas, those living alone, those who are currently married and those with low educational attainment are more likely to be a part of the labour force. Again, elderly females are found to be employed mostly in the informal or unorganised sector which provide minimal or nil social security benefits. Between 2017–2018 and 2019–2020, the coefficients for sector, gender, marital status, education and income are found to be significantly different.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to shed some light on the scanty literature with regards to studies on the elderly in India, and also to reveal the possible factors which induce the elderly in India to participate in the labour force with the help of the most recent data available.Peer reviewThe peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2021-0350.

Migrant labour force in India: Impacts, challenges, and policy measures during the Covid-19 lockdown

Migrant labour force in India: Impacts, challenges, and policy measures during the Covid-19 lockdown

Effect of Female Employment on Child Educational Outcomes: Evidence From an Employment Guarantee Program

This paper examines how the child’s educational outcomes are impacted by the mother’s participation in an employment guarantee program versus mother’s participation in the regular labor force in India. Using the survey data from India Human Development Survey I and II, I estimate this effect by analyzing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005. I use household specific and parent specific characteristics as controls. Regression analysis and propensity score matching techniques are used to determine the causal relationship. The results show that the participation of mothers in MGNREGA work leads to a decrease in the test scores of the children. While MGNREGA is an important source of employment for households in the rural areas, especially women, this paper shows that increased participation can lead to negative spillover effects for the children.

Keynote Paper -Employment of the Rural Labour Force in India – The Current Trends and Future Prospects

Keynote Paper -Employment of the Rural Labour Force in India – The Current Trends and Future Prospects

Human Development, Per Capita Income Differentials and English as Source of Demographic Dividends Among the Youth in India

India has a large youthful population; this ‘young nation’ is both a national and international resource that facilitates global value added. Such gains would accrue only when the youth are adequately educated, skilled and occupied in gainful employment. India, however, is staring at a missed opportunity that favours harnessing demographic dividends offered by demographic transition. Keeping the tradition of high levels of diversity of labour force in India, this article examines the youthful demographic parameters according to socio-religious communities (SRCs). The economic momentum needed to reach a US$5 trillion (GDP) economy can only occur when the youth of India is educated, skilled and employed. A rather rare data set is analysed to explore the importance of English language education in augmenting demographic dividends. Traditionally, disadvantageous groups, especially Muslims and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs), are the youngest in India, yet their share in workforce is lowest when compared to other groups. This article reviews few human development dimensions like the rate of poverty change in the recent past and traces the path of educational transition and human development according to SRCs. A further analysis suggests that irrespective of any SRC identity, knowledge and fluency in English are some of the most dominant discriminatory factors in India in terms of the ability to earn higher incomes.

Inequalities in Farm Sector Labour Force in India

The back bone of the rural economy in India is the farm sector or agricultural sector. It also contributes an overall economic and social development towards the nation. Farm activities include agriculture (crop production), plantation, animal husbandry (milk, meat, egg, etc.), forestry & logging, and fishing. In India, the lion share of the labor force is engaged in the farm sector(Pal and Dutta.Though the female labor force participation is typically low in our country, their share in agriculture is commendable and not decreasing as it has been noticed in all other sectors in the recent past. But whether this participation in true sense is in gain full economic activities is to be looked into. Wage discrimination, stereotyping of works, working hours are some inequalities that females are facing at the workplace. In this analysis, an attempt has been made to see the inequality in malefemale participation in farm sectors. Their wage differentials in rural-urban sectors, in different states, have been computed following NIC(National Industry Classification) and NCO(National Classification of occupation) using unit-level data of NSS(National Sample Survey,68th round 2011-12 and Periodiclabour force survey, 2017-18). From preliminary observations, it is noted that there is an increase of rural females as market-oriented crops producers or animal producers and related workers from 2011-12 to 2017-18. The NIC gives the industry-specific picture, where they mainly engaged in mixed farming, plant propagation, post-harvest activities along with perennial and non-perennial crop production. Reduction in a rural male in all these industries is noted as an opposite criterion. In both the rural and urban sectors, gender inequalities persist in wages in almost all NIC activities. Some exceptions like raising of cattle, supporting activities for crop production, fresh water aquaculture, growing of bush fruits and nuts where average earnings of females are a little bit higher than male workers working as either casual labor or regular waged salaried person.

Return to Skills in India: The Role of Digital Access and Usage

This article analyses the quality of labour force in India using the data from India’s Citizen Environment and Consumer Economy (ICE) 360° survey (2016), which provides a view on how Indians earn, spend, save, invest, live, think, access amenities and public goods and consume. The approach adopted here provides an alternative perspective on the quality of labour force, which depends on skill levels, education and technology. The analysis reveals that Indian labour markets depicts a clear dichotomy between higher skill levels being dominated largely by the high-skilled workers and the manual jobs with lower skill levels for the low-skilled workers. Technology and digital usage has further accentuated this earnings differential. Also, higher skill levels in India tend to have both higher average earning and education levels compared to their lower skill counterparts, leading to widening the earning inequality.Further, this analysis provides important insights into the low skill levels of the vast Indian labour force, which would require re-qualification and re-specialisation of the labour force in order to compete in fast-changing globalised India. Thus, it becomes critical for Indian policymakers to relook the skill formation and education system to be able to swiftly and effectively respond to constantly evolving skill demand in the local, national and global market.

Economic status of women in India: paradox of paid–unpaid work and poverty

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamics of women labor considering their unpaid work status. The intention is to understand the precise meaning of unpaid work and its magnitudes and trends in India. This study explores the causes of women to be engaged in unpaid work and the reason behind the non-reduction of unpaid labor as prophesied by the standard theories of economic development. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the nexus of the work status of women and its impact on poverty to give possible recommendations for promoting faster and more inclusive growth of the Indian economy.Design/methodology/approachFor addressing the above-mentioned issues, this study has used the data of 50th, 55th, 61st and 68th surveys conducted from 1993–1994 to 2011–2012 by National Sample Survey Office. In the first stage of analysis, the magnitude of unpaid work by women has been estimated. Subsequently, the relative contributions of socio-economic and demographics on the work status of women (paid and unpaid) in India have been assessed by using logistic regression model. In the second stage, the level of poverty among paid and unpaid women has been measured by using poverty estimation methodology. Furthermore, the incidence of poverty among unpaid women has been decomposed, and the contribution of socio-economic predictors has been measured.FindingsThe study reveals that the participation of women in paid activities has been consistently declined. During the study period, it is observed that the amount of unpaid work activities of women has significantly increased. Moreover, the increase of unpaid activities is more intense for those women who are less educated, marginalized and belong to the poorer household.Originality/valueThe key contributions of this study are to underpin the issue of low and declining participation of female labor force in India as well as to understand the dynamics of changing work status (paid to unpaid) of females in the neo-liberal development framework. Furthermore, this study explores the consequences of the increase in unpaid work on poverty, which has not been the focus of previous studies.

Globalisation and child labour: evidence from India

Child labour is a complex problem basically rooted in poverty. The Government of India has formulated policies since the economic reforms of the early 1990s. Children under fourteen comprise 3.6 per cent of the total labour force in India. Nearly eighty-five per cent are engaged in the traditional agricultural sector, less than nine per cent in manufacturing, services and repairs and only about 0.8 per cent are in factories. The elimination of child labour is a priority and is being implemented at the grass roots level in India. A large number of non-governmental and voluntary organizations are involved in this process along with national and international organisations. This paper reviews the child labour situation in India and analyses the effect of globalisation on child labour.

Heterogeneity and Earning Dissatisfaction of Elderly Labourforce in India

This paper attempts to find the drivers of choice of various occupations during old age and related earning dissatisfaction. Old age workforce participation in India is largely characterized by distress driven and therefore assumed to be associated with vulnerabilities in working conditions. Findings suggest that relatively disadvantaged elderly participate in the self-employment and casual wage earnings of the unorganised sector. Coupled with age related discrimination, since unorganised sector in India mostly does not follow the minimum labour standard, the elderly are paid low that aggravates further economic vulnerabilities. The results show that elderly from poor socioeconomic background are more likely to be dissatisfied with their earnings but regional variation contributes significantly in this regard.

Sociological Study of Women Domestic Workers in Bangalore City

<div><p><em>Women in India are approximately about out half of the population, they have been the weakest of the weaker sections which have been the most exploited in every field and in all sectors .Women in have been the most abused and have been undergone a various types of hardships in their everyday life. Even though the government of India have been implemented some of policies implemented as their social security not many of them have come to reality. The women domestic workers in India are the unorganized group who strived to make their living without any life security and are in the vital situations in their social life. Over the last few years, studies on domestic life security in India have noted the increase in the numbers of migrant female domestic workers in the cities. They have also observed that domestic work is highly informal in its organization and tinted the vulnerabilities of domestic workers who belong to the poorer and uneducated sections of society. These studies also note that women from <strong>marginalized castes</strong> form a substantive group of domestic workers (Kaur 2006; Neetha 2004 and 2008). Domestic workers form a significant part of this informal economy which is unorganised. Despite the fact, domestic workers, constitute a crushing 90% of this unorganized labor force in India, they have always been <strong>marginalized</strong> as the unorganised sector. Whether they work part time, full day or as live in workers, they are forced to put up with various indignities, in the privacy of the households they work in. This part of my paper constitutes the study of Domestic workers in the Bangalore city is significant aspect due to its urban development process and women domestic have found to be the most wanted. Domestic workers, an estimated <strong>4 lakhs</strong> in <strong>Bangalore City</strong> work under illogical rules, are largely unskilled and illiterate. For years, women have been doing the drudgery of washing, cleaning, cooking and all menial tasks in other households for their own survival. Long hours of work, years of toil often with no living wage, no rest or recreation, sexual harassment, abuse of their dignity, untouchability, often treated callously are the story of their lives. The conditions of lakhs of child women domestic workers, the 24 hours live in workers, are even more exploitative and obnoxious. There have been many cases of rape and murder, horror tales of children being beaten, locked in bathrooms, bitten and burnt by employers. In my paper I have highlight some of the vital incidents where women have been facing and also the government policies and programmes and polices in the women empowerment in the social sector.</em></p></div>

Labour force participation of elderly in India: patterns and determinants

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the labour force participation of older persons (aged 60 and above) in India from 1983 to 2011-2012. The paper also briefly reviews the conditions of work for the elderly and examines different socio-economic and demographic factors that are associated with labour force participation of elderly in India.Design/methodology/approach– The author uses data from repeated cross-sectional rounds of Employment and Unemployment Surveys of National Sample Survey Office from 1983 to 2011-2012. The author uses probit regression model to identify the socio-economic and demographic variables that are associated with the labour participation of the elderly in India.Findings– The results show that labour force participation rate of older persons in rural India remained almost stable between 1983 and 2011-2012, despite the rapid economic growth that India experienced during the same period. Further, the results show that among the elderly, those who belong to relatively poor socio-economic status are more likely to participate in the labour force. It is observed that large percentage of the elderly workforce are engaged in poorly paid jobs in the informal sector, either as casual workers or as self-employed in low-skilled or unskilled occupations.Research limitations/implications– This paper is mostly descriptive in its analysis and it only points to the possible socio-economic and demographic determinants of elderly labour force participation in India.Originality/value– Given that the studies on employment of elderly in India are scanty, this paper provides new evidence on changes in labour force participation of elderly over last three decades. Further, this study makes an attempts to understand who among the elderly most likely to participation in labour force in India.

Does socio-religious identity lead to structural disadvantage? Evidence from the Indian labour market

The informal sector employs nearly 85 per cent of the labour force in India and hence constitutes a major proportion of the Indian labour market. A society which is still in the developing phase may lack labor market institutions in the informal sector. This may provide ample scope for differential treatment against the weaker sections of society. We term this differential treatment as structural disadvantage. This article intends to bring out the trends in differential treatment, based on individuals’ social identity, in the Indian labour market from 1993/94 to 2011/12. According to our study, SC/ST Hindus were found to be in a structurally disadvantaged situation compared to the upper caste Hindus, and the magnitude of this trend is increasing since 2004/05. On the other hand, upper caste Hindus were structurally disadvantaged compared to other religious minorities (apart from Muslims) but the trend is reversing after 2004/05. However, Muslims were found to be structurally disadvantaged compared to the upper caste Hindus during 1993/94, but no such trend has been observed in the following decade. An increase in reservations or quotas in education institutions, public and private sector enterprises would be helpful in bringing about a reduction in structural disadvantage against SC/ST Hindus. Special focus should be provided to promote reservations in the private sector enterprises because of shrinking of the public sector jobs. In addition, if formal sector could be encouraged in least developed states, this could create job opportunities for SC/ST Hindus.

Women Employment in Indian Electronics Manufacturing Sector

Electronic manufacturing sector historically employ a large number of women. This sector has a lot of potential to absorb the growing female labour force in India. The government of India recently focusing on development of manufacturing sector under “Make in India” scheme with electronics as a priority sector. In this context, the present paper attempt to understand the employment profile of women by comparing with men in the sector. Most importantly, this is a grey area in Indian academia. There are very few studies which are based primarily upon the case studies and other type of methods. But till now there are hardly any attempt has been made to highlight the importance of this area with the help of Government of India data source. Thus, National Sample Survey 68th round (2011–12) data has been used for the analysis in the present paper. The results reveal that there is still a huge gap exists between female and male work participation, status of employment and earnings in electronics manufacturing sector. Women are still employed at lower level jobs and getting lower wages, social security benefits and have lower union presence than their male counterparts.

Role of Unorganized Manufacturing in Expanding Employment Opportunities in Assam

The unorganized sector plays important role in creating gainful employment opportunities, especially in developing countries, which are, in general, labour abundant. The Eleventh Five Year Plan has emphasized that the unorganized manufacturing sector holds the promise of vast employment creation, and thus, could be a panacea to the burgeoning labour force in India. In this light the present paper analyzes the structure and growth of employment in the unorganized manufacturing sector in Assam. Our main concern is to address the employment potentiality of the sector in the State. We have discussed the issue in the light of different technology parameters such as capital intensity and factor productivity, etc. The analysis has been carried out separately for different enterprise types to get a clear picture about the specific sectors and sub-sectors. The findings suggest that the unorganized manufacturing sector of Assam has witnessed sharp decline during 1994-95 to 2000-01, especially in terms of number of units and employment, but the sector has experienced significant rise in recent years (during 2000-01 to 2005-06). However, this improvement is at the cost of quality of employment, since the number of full-time workers has sharply declined and there has been increase in part-time workers only.

Technology in Khadi Industry

The technology of production available with Khadi cannot even be compared to the existing modern high speed spinning and weaving machinery. Khadi Industry possesses quite a rudimentary technology from the time of its inception in both spinning and weaving. Theoretically it is expected that a change to or an introduction of new technology would bring about a phenomenal rise in, employment generation, production, sales etc. to cater to the employment demand of rural labour force in India, at least by giving them employment opportunities during off-season as envisaged by Gandhiji. 1970 is taken as a bench-mark year for our further analysis as it happens to be the year when NMC as a new technology was introduced. Initially introduction of new technology of NMC improved the productivity to a large extent. But with the increase in Production, Sales could not be sustained for a long time as the marketing aspect has been largely neglected. Employment though increased initially but that too sustained a set back due to fall in demand. Even the earnings of artisans are found to be un-sustainable to support their families. Moreover, field observations revealed that a lack of dynamism in terms of information dissemination regarding R&D by KVIC, lack of in-house R&D by institutions, adaptation and further improvement in the technology are some other key elements for the descent of Khadi industry. There is definitely a need for powerisation in pre-weaving stage this will contribute towards the development of the artisans family by freeing the additional family members involved in pre-weaving, particularly children for adequate schooling. Further sustained attempts should be made to use power in the charaka to reduce drudgery, enhance productivity and wages. It takes a longer gestation of time to implement those innovations as technologies in large scale. Not many institutions have taken up R & D activities. There are no improvements to reduce the drudgery of the artisans from a long period of time. In short we can say that Information network flow within KVIC and its agencies is quite poor. Technological Diffusion is incomplete and though there exists physical capacity and opportunity to invent by sizeable institutions and KVIC research agencies, but lack of sufficient financial assistance and pressure to innovate scuttle the progress of R&D. Moreover there is a need for comprehensive, coordinated research and documentation of innovations and its dissemination.The study analysis revealed that the hope seems to be lying in innovation of higher spindle charkas, which would involve lesser drudgery and fetch more wages. Further training of Weavers in order to improve their skill formation and innovation in improvement of looms and designs of products to encourage production of highly value-added products is also the need of the hour. However, it is heartening to know that some of the suggestions mentioned in the TISS Report (2000) are being implemented by KVIC today after a decade. We can see some of the policy suggestion implemented like Scheme For Enhancing Productivity & Competitiveness Of Khadi Industry & Artisans and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a loan agreement for the $150 million Khadi Reform and Development Program (KRDP). These programmes aim at phased replacement of implements and improving the technology to make spinning and weaving implements more efficient and less prone to drudgery, skill development through Quality Training Facilities and good quality marketing assistance.

Child Labour in India; Situation and Policy Analysis

Child labour is certainly a serious problem throughout the world (an estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labor - one in every six children in the world) and it would be no understatement to say that India itself has a large force of child labourers. For this the Indian government and the Industrial sector have both drawn flack from not only foreign governments and International organizations but also brand conscious MNC’s. also published on the web-site of the Indian Embassy in Washington, children under fourteen constitute around 3.6% of the total labor force in India. Of these children, nine out of every ten work in their own rural family settings. Nearly 85% are engaged in traditional agricultural activities. Less than 9% work in manufacturing, services and repairs. Only about 0.8% works in factories. With this paper we wish to throw light upon the prevailing child labour condition in India, the reason for child labour in india,the effectiveness of the existing legislations and the future steps to be taken.

OCCUPATIONAL SEX SEGREGATION AND WOMEN'S WORK IN INDIA

The article evaluates the adequacy of the data on employment activity for an understanding of women's work. It looks at how men and women are distributed in the labour force in India and how far the sexes are segregated into different types of work. Finally, the article examines the particular characteristics of women's work in India, and looks at how these differ from the distinctive patterns of women's work in the West.

The effects of economic growth and technological innovation on the agricultural labor force in India

The effects of economic growth and technological innovation on the agricultural labor force in India