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KEY TRENDS

• Employment elasticity of agricultural growth (see the note below) declined from 0.52 during 1983-1993/94 to 0.28 during 1993/94-2004/05#
• The growth of total employment declined from 2.03 per cent during 1983/1993-94 to 1.85 per cent during 1993-94/2004-05#
• The share of unorganized sector agricultural workers in the total agricultural workers was 98 per cent during 2004-05#
• Nearly two-thirds of the agricultural workers (64 per cent) are self-employed, or farmers as we call them, and the remaining, a little over one-third (36 per cent), wage workers#
• Growth rate of agricultural employment decelerated from 1.4 per cent during the period 1983/1993-94 to 0.8 per cent during the period 1993-94/2004-05*
• Between 1993-94 and 2004-05, the unemployment rate increased by 1 percent**
• Among rural males, the proportion of self-employed had fallen from 61 per cent in 1983 to 57 percent in 2005-06**
• There exists gender differential in wage rates for regular/ salaried work in both rural and urban areas**
• Goa and Kerala have the highest unemployment rates of 11.39% and 9.13% respectively. Lowest unemployment rates of 0.48% and 0.77% are found in less developed states such as Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh***

Note: Employment elasticity indicates an increase in employment in response to economic growth. A reduction in employment elasticity suggests that the rate of increase in jobs is on the decline

# The Challenge of Employment in India: An Informal Economy Perspective, Volume-I, Main Report, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), April, 2009, http://nceus.gov.in/
* NCEUS (2007), Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the Unorganised Sector
** Employment and Unemployment Situation in India 2005-06, National Sample Survey 62nd Round
*** India Labour Market Report 2008, prepared by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Adecco Institute, London

OVERVIEW


Despite a consistently high GDP growth rate, India is not able to generate even a fraction of new job its rural folks require. The new job creation is restricted to higher end service sector areas like finance, insurance, IT and IT Enable Services (ITES) rather than in manufacturing and infrastructure where the low-skill rural migrants hope to find work. A combination of sluggish village economy, stagnation in rural crafts and cottage industry, falling farm incomes and poor human development indicators (HDI) is a perfect recipe for more rural unemployment and more distress migration to cities.

Even before the recession started, creation of new jobs had hit negative growth. Nine out of ten people in the trillion-dollar economy work in the unorganized sector and three fourths of all Indians live on Rs 20 a day, according to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS). Many economists argue that migration from villages to cities is a necessary condition for growth. However, India's 'low cost advantage' in the global market ensures low earnings which fail to kick off the growth cycle of reasonable purchasing power creating more domestic demand and finally leading to more job creation.

Numbers show that instead of ‘getting there’ we could be moving in the opposite direction. For instance the rate of unemployment rose by 1 percentage point in the decade between 1994 and 2005. Among rural males the proportion of self-employed has also fallen by four percentage points between early eighties and 2005. This spells doom for work participation of rural poor in the face of falling employment.

Figures also show that the situation is unchanged or worsened for rural females since the early eighties. Over 45 per cent of the farmers’ meager incomes come from rural non-farm employment (RNFE), which, in effect, is another name for casual labour. The wages are typically low because the farmer has to take whatever work he can get in the vicinity of his village. Right now only 57 per cent of the farmers are self employed and above 36 pr cent are wage workers, of which 98 per cent are engaged as casual labour.

 

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The graph below shows that, compared to the year 2004-05, the Work Participation Rate (per 1000 person), according to the principal and subsidiary statuses taken together, during 2005-06 for males did not change in rural areas but decreased by 1 percentage point in urban areas. However, for females there was a decline of 2 percentage points in rural areas and 3 percentage points in urban areas during the same period.

Work Participation Rate (per 1000 person) in the usual status in different NSS rounds

Source: Employment and Unemployment Situation in India 2005-06, NSS 62nd Round
Note: * The Usual Status, determined on the basis of the usual principal activity and usual subsidiary economic activity of a person taken together, is considered as the usual activity status of the person and is written as usual status (ps+ss).

According to Key Indicators of Employment and Unemployment in India, 2009-10 (released on 24 June, 2011), Press Release, National Sample Survey Office, http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/Press_Note_KI_E&UE_66th_English.pdf:  

The indicators on Employment and Unemployment in India in the 66th round of the survey are based on the Central Sample of 1,00,957 households (59,129 in rural areas and 41,828 in urban areas) surveyed from 7,402 sample villages in rural areas and 5,252 urban blocks spread over all States and Union Territories except in (i) interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of a bus route (ii) villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remain inaccessible throughout the year and (iii) Leh, Kargil and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

1. Distribution of Usual Status (ps+ss) workers according to employment status

• At the national level, among all the workers, about 51.0 per cent were ‘self-employed’, about 33.5 per cent were ‘casual labour’ and 15.6 percent were ‘regular wage/salaried’ employee.

• Among the workers in the rural areas, about 54.2 per cent were ‘self-employed’, about 38.6 per cent were ‘casual labour’ and 7.3 percent were ‘regular wage/salaried’ employee.

• Among the workers in the urban areas, about 41.1 per cent were ‘self-employed’, about 17.5 per cent were ‘casual labour’ and 41.4 percent were ‘regular wage/salaried’ employee.

2. Industry-wise distribution of workers according to usual status (ps+ss)

• In rural areas, nearly 63 per cent of the male workers were engaged in the agricultural sector while in the secondary and tertiary sectors nearly 19 per cent and 18 per cent of the male workers were engaged. There was a higher dependence of female workers on agricultural sector: nearly 79 per cent of them were engaged in agricultural sector while secondary and tertiary sectors shared 13 per cent and 8 per cent of the female workers, respectively.

• The industry-wise distribution of workers in the urban areas was distinctly different from that of rural areas. In urban areas the share of the tertiary sector was dominant followed by that of secondary sector while agricultural sector engaged only a small proportion of total workers for both male and females. In urban areas, nearly 59 per cent of male workers and 53 per cent of the female workers were engaged in the tertiary sector. The secondary sector employed nearly 35 per cent of the male and 33 per cent of the female workers. The share of urban workforce in agriculture was nearly 6 per cent of male and 14 per cent for female workers.

3. Wage Rates of Regular Wage/Salaried Employees and Casual Labourers

• In urban areas, the average wage/salary was Rs. 365 per day and for the rural areas it was Rs. 232. In the rural areas, average wage/salary earnings per day received by male regular wage/ salaried employees was Rs. 249 and for females it was Rs. 156, indicating the female-male wage ratio as 0.63. In urban areas, male wage rate was Rs. 377 against the female wage rate of Rs. 309, indicating female-male wage ratio as 0.82.

• Wage rates (per day) for casual labour in works other than public works in rural areas was Rs. 93 and in urban areas it was Rs. 122. In the rural areas, average wage/salary earnings per day received by male casual labours engaged in works other than public works was Rs. 102 and for females it was Rs. 69 while in urban areas, the wage rates for casual labours in work other than public works was Rs. 132 for males and Rs. 77 for females.

• In rural areas, wage rates (per day) for casual labour in public works other than MGNREG public works was Rs. 98 for males and Rs. 86 for females. For casual labour in MGNREG public works, wage rate (per day) in rural areas was Rs. 91 for males and Rs. 87 for females.

Note: Three reference periods used in NSS surveys are (i) one year, (ii) one week and (iii) each day of the reference week. Based on these three periods, three different measures of activity status are arrived at. The activity status determined on the basis of the reference period of one year is known as the Usual Status (US) of a person, that determined on the basis of a reference period of one week is known as the Current Weekly Status (CWS) of the person and the activity status determined on the basis of the engagement on each day during the reference week is known as the Current Daily Status (CDS) of the person. In US approach, there are two indicators viz. one based on principal activity called Usual Principal Status (ps) and other based on both principal and subsidiary activities taken together called US (ps+ss). The unit of measurements in case of US and CWS is persons and in case on CDS, it is person days.
 

The key findings of the Global Employment Trends 2011: The challenge of a jobs recovery, International Labour Organization,
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/publication/wcms_150440.pdf are as follows:  

India specific points

• The report notes that the largest reductions in poverty continue to be recorded in eastern Asia, with poverty rates in China expected to fall to around 5 per cent in 2015. Poverty rates in India are expected to decline from 51 per cent in 1990 to 24 per cent in 2015, with the number of people living in extreme poverty expected to decrease by 188 million.

• Economic growth in the South Asia region as a whole declined from 9.1 per cent in 2007 to 5.9 per cent in 2008 and to 5.5 per cent in 2009. It is estimated that the region’s economy grew by 8.9 per cent in 2010, led by India, which registered rapid growth of 9.7 per cent in 2010.

• A larger share of women are engaged in vulnerable employment compared to men in South Asia, with gender-based gaps particularly large in India, Nepal and Pakistan. South Asia has the highest rate of vulnerable employment among all regions in the world, at 78.5 per cent of total employment in 2009. The rate has declined modestly in recent years, down from 81.1 per cent in 1999.

Unemployment remains elevated

• The number of unemployed globally stood at 205 million in 2010, essentially unchanged from the year earlier and 27.6 million higher than in 2007, with little hope for this figure to revert to precrisis levels in the near term. The global unemployment rate stood at 6.2 per cent in 2010, versus 6.3 per cent in 2009, but still well above the rate of 5.6 per cent in 2007.

• The ILO projects a global unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent, equivalent to 203.3 million unemployed, through 2011. 55 per cent of the increase in global unemployment between 2007 and 2010 occurred in the Developed Economies and European Union (EU) region, while the region only accounts for 15 per cent of the world’s labour force. In several economies in the developing world, such as Brazil, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay, unemployment rates have actually fallen below their pre-crisis levels.

• The elevated level of global unemployment stands in stark contrast to the recovery that has been seen in several key macroeconomic indicators: real global GDP, private consumption, gross fixed investment and world trade had all recovered by 2010, surpassing pre-crisis levels.

• There has been an uneven recovery in labour markets, with a continued rise in joblessness in the Developed Economies and European Union region, a steady to slightly improving unemployment picture in most developing regions.

• An estimated 1.53 billion workers were in vulnerable employment in 2009, corresponding to a vulnerable employment rate of 50.1 per cent. There were 630 million workers (20.7 per cent of all workers in the world) living with their families at the extreme US$ 1.25 a day level in 2009. This corresponds to an additional 40 million working poor, 1.6 percentage points higher than projected on the basis of pre-crisis trends.

A recovery in growth that has not brought about a comparable recovery in employment

• At the global level, the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates whether the employment-generating capacity of a country or region is rising or falling, declined from 61.7 in 2007 to 61.2 in 2009 and is estimated at 61.1 per cent in 2010. Many economies are simply not generating sufficient employment opportunities to absorb growth in the working-age population.

• In 64 countries for which quarterly data are available, as of the second quarter in 2010, the number of countries with falling employment-to-population ratios was still twice the number that had rising ratios. It is clear that the ongoing economic recovery is not yet leading to a sufficient expansion in employment opportunities in many countries.

Industrial employment hardest hit

• Total global employment in industry declined slightly in 2009, which is a major divergence from the historical annual growth rate of 3.4 per cent over the period from 2002 to 2007. Employment in agriculture grew in 2009, which also represented a divergence versus historical trends.

Growing number of discouraged youth

• The number of unemployed youth (aged 15–24) is estimated to have declined from 79.6 million in 2009 to 77.7 million in 2010, though this is still well above the 2007 level of 73.5 million. The global youth unemployment rate stood at 12.6 per cent in 2010, up from 11.8 per cent in 2007, but down slightly from 12.8 per cent in 2009.

• However, unemployment rates understate the severe extent to which the crisis impacted young people as labour force participation among youth was strongly affected by the crisis. Across 56 countries with available data, there are 1.7 million fewer youth in the labour market than expected based on longer term trends, indicating that discouragement among youth has risen sharply. These discouraged youth are not counted among the unemployed because they are not actively seeking work.

Trends in labour productivity and real wages reveal pressure on employment quality

• Labour productivity growth turned negative in 2009, declining by 1.4 per cent versus growth of 3.3 per cent in 2007. In 2010, global productivity growth recovered to 3.1 per cent.

• The problem of delayed labour market recovery is seen not only in the lag between output growth and employment growth and reduced unemployment but also in some countries in the lag between productivity growth and resumption in real wage growth. This phenomenon can threaten future recovery prospects, given the strong linkages between employment and growth in real wages on the one hand and consumption on the other.

Stagnating progress in reducing vulnerable employment and slowed progress in reducing working poverty

• On the basis of available data, the current estimate of the number of workers in vulnerable employment in 2009 is 1.53 billion, which corresponds to a global vulnerable employment rate of 50.1 per cent. The incidence of vulnerable employment remained roughly flat between 2008 and 2009, versus a steady and substantial average decline in the years preceding the crisis.

• The estimated working poverty rate at the extreme US$ 1.25 level for 2009 is 20.7 per cent, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than the rate projected on the basis of the pre-crisis trend. This amounts to around 40 million more working poor at the extreme US$ 1.25 level in 2009 than would have been expected on the basis of pre-crisis trends. The share of workers living with their families below the US$ 2 a day poverty line is estimated at around 39 per cent, or 1.2 billion workers worldwide.

An improved global economy, yet downside risks predominate in 2011

• Following a contraction in 2009, the global economy grew at a rapid pace of 4.8 per cent in 2010. The recovery is expected to continue in 2011, though at a more moderate pace (4.2 per cent). However, due to the fragile state of the labour market in many countries, high levels of public debt and continued vulnerabilities in the financial sector and private households, downside risks predominate.

• On the basis of current macroeconomic forecasts, the global unemployment rate is projected at 6.1 per cent in 2011, corresponding to global unemployment of 203.3 million. This represents little improvement over 2010 levels.

According to the Report on Employment & Unemployment Survey (2009-10), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Labour Bureau, October, 2010
http://labourbureau.nic.in/Final_Report_Emp_Unemp_2009_10.pdf:  

•    The present Employment-Unemployment survey (prepared by the Labour Bureau) has been conducted in 28 States/UTs spread across the country in which about 99 per cent of the country’s population resides.  

•    Under the survey, 45,859 household schedules have been canvassed of which 24,653 are rural and 21,206 are urban household schedules. A total of 2,33,410 persons have been interviewed to gather information from 45,859 households.

•    Information in the present Employment-Unemployment survey has been collected for the fixed reference period from 1.4.2009 to 31.3.2010.

•    The survey reveals that 45.5 percent of the overall working population is employed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Only 8.9 percent of the working population is engaged in manufacturing, 8.8 percent is engaged in community services group and 7.5 in construction industry.

•    In the rural areas, 57.6 percent of the working population is engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. 7.2 percent of the working population is engaged in construction industry and 6.7 percent of the population is employed in manufacturing.


•    In the urban areas, 9.9 percent of the working population is engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. 8.6 percent of the working population is engaged in construction industry and 15.4 percent of the population is employed in manufacturing. Nearly 17.3 percent of the working population in urban India is employed in wholesale, retail etc.

•    The survey report acknowledges that agriculture sector is projected to generate no additional employment during the Eleventh Plan period. Employment in manufacturing is however expected to grow at 4 per cent while construction and transport & communication are expected to grow at around 8.2 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively. The projected increase in total labour force during 11th Plan is 45 million. As against this, 58 million employment opportunities are targeted to be created during the Eleventh Plan. This is expected to reduce unemployment rate to below 5 per cent. However, the results of the present survey report shows that at the overall level the unemployment rate is estimated at 94, which imply that 9.4 per cent of the labour force is unemployed and looking for jobs. In absolute terms about 40 million persons are found unemployed based on the survey results at overall level of the State/UT’s surveyed.

•    A majority of the estimated unemployed persons (80 per cent) is in the rural sector at overall level.

•    Unemployment rate in rural India is 10.1 percent, whereas unemployment rate in urban India is 7.3 percent. Unemployment rate among male is 8.0 percent and among female is 14.6 percent.

•    Comparison of Labour Bureau’s present survey results for the year 2009-10 with NSSO’s Employment-Unemployment survey results for 2007-08, reveals that the unemployment rate derived on the basis of the Bureau’s survey is quite high. Higher unemployment rate may be parting attributed to as much as 10 per cent difference in the contribution of agriculture sector to total employment estimated in the present survey vis-à-vis the NSSO 2007-08 survey estimates. While the shift of workforce from agriculture to other sectors is a positive trend for a fast growing economy, the steep reduction in lower share of agriculture employment based on the Bureau’s survey could be attributed to lack of adequate probing skills of the Contract Investigators.

•    Findings of the survey show that out of 1000 persons, 351 persons are in the employed category, 36 in the unemployed category and the rest 613 persons are out of labour force at overall level of the States/UT’s surveyed. Within the employed category, out of 351 persons, 154 are self employed, 59 are regular wage/salaried and the remaining 138 are in casual labour category at overall level. In the rural sector for every 1000 persons, 356 persons are in the employed category, 40 are unemployed and the rest 604 persons are not in the labour force. In the urban sector out of every 1000 persons, the number of employed persons is 335, number of unemployed is 27 and the remaining 638 persons are not in the labour force.

•    Majority of the females in the urban sector (86 per cent) and the rural sector (81 per cent) are out of labour force.

•    It is seen that in the self employed person’s category, maximum proportion of persons is engaged in agriculture, forestry & fishing group (572 out of 1000 persons) followed by wholesale and retail trade (135 out of 1000 persons) at overall level.

•    In the second employment category of regular wage/salaried person, maximum proportion of the employed is engaged in the community services (227 persons out of 1000 persons) followed by 153 in manufacturing industry.

•    In the third employment category i.e. casual labour; a majority of the persons are in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry group (467 persons out of 1000 persons) followed by 148 in the construction sector.

•    The survey results reveal that majority of the employed persons are employed in proprietary type of enterprises (494 persons out of 1000 persons) followed by public/private limited companies (200 persons) etc at overall level.

•    At the level of rural and urban sector also, majority of the workers are reportedly employed in the proprietary type of enterprises (517 persons and 428 persons respectively out of 1000 persons).

•    The survey results reveal that at overall level out of 1000 persons, 157 persons are getting paid leave or are eligible for paid leave. The industry wise break up shows that in community services group, a maximum of 443 persons out of 1000 persons are eligible for paid leave. On the other hand in agriculture, forestry & fisheries group, a minimum of 54 persons out of 1000 persons have reported paid leave at overall level.

•    In case of other social security benefits such as the provident fund, gratuity, health care & maternity benefits, pension etc., 163 persons out of 1000 persons have reported receiving some social security benefits in the enterprises in which they are employed. Again in community services group, a maximum of 400 persons out of 1000 persons have reported social security benefits in the units in which they are employed. In agriculture, forestry & fishery group however a minimum of 82 persons out of 1000 persons have reported receiving social security benefits.

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According to the World Social Security Report 2010/11: Providing coverage in times of crisis and beyond, which has been produced by the International Labour Organization (ILO), http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_146566.pdf:  

•    The notion of social security used in this report has two main (functional) dimensions, namely “income security” and “availability of medical care”.

•    Only one-third of countries globally (inhabited by 28 per cent of the global population) have comprehensive social protection systems covering all branches of social security (plus social assistance) as defined in Convention No. 102 and Recommendation No. 67.

•    It is estimated that only about 20 per cent of the world’s working-age population (and their families) have effective access to comprehensive social protection systems.

•    Although a larger percentage of the world’s population has access to health-care services than to various cash benefits, nearly one-third has no access to any health facilities or services at all.

•    Many people in countries such as Cambodia, India and Pakistan shoulder up to 80 per cent of total health expenditures, with only a small portion of the population being covered by any form of social health protection mechanisms providing medical benefits such as tax-funded services or social, national or community-based insurances. High out-of-pocket payments are a major cause of impoverishment, and so it is not accidental that there is a strong correlation between the shares of out-of-pocket expenditure in a country and poverty incidence there.

•    30–36 per cent of the world’s population has no access to the services of an adequate number of skilled medical professionals. Low-income countries in Africa and Asia show the highest levels of access deficits.

•    In low-income countries no more than 35 per cent of all women in rural areas have access to professional health services, while in urban areas the access rate amounts to an average of about 70 per cent, which is still more than 20 percentage points lower than the access in high-income countries (where it is nearly complete).

•    Coverage by old-age pension schemes around the world, apart from in the developed countries, is concentrated on formal sector employees, mainly in the civil service and larger enterprises. The highest coverage is found in North America and Europe, the lowest in Asia and Africa.

•    India’s National Old-Age Pension Scheme, financed by central and state resources, reaches one-fourth of all the elderly: about half of pensioners who live in poverty. And in Brazil, social assistance pensions lift about 14 million people out of extreme poverty. A newly introduced social security scheme helped the Republic of Korea to adjust more smoothly to the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

•    Worldwide, nearly 40 per cent of the population of working age is legally covered by contributory old-age pension schemes. In North America and Europe this number is nearly twice as high, while in Africa less than one-third of the working-age population is covered even by legislation. Effective coverage is significantly lower than legal coverage. With the exception of North America and to a lesser extent Western Europe, effective coverage is quite low in all regions. In sub-Saharan Africa only 5 per cent of the working-age population is effectively covered by contributory programmes, while this share is about 20 per cent in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

•    While in high-income countries 75 percent of persons aged 65 or over are receiving some kind of pension, in low-income countries less than 20 per cent of the elderly receive pension benefits.

•    Present entitlements to unemployment benefits tend to be restricted to those in formal employment, and exist mostly in high- and middle-income countries. Of 184 countries studied, statutory unemployment social security schemes exist in only 78 countries (42 per cent), often covering only a minority of their labour force. Coverage rates in terms of the proportion of unemployed who receive benefits are lowest in Africa, Asia and the Middle East (less than 10 per cent).

•    In the informal economy prevailing in many low income countries, conditions and safety of work are often dramatically bad, accidents and work-related diseases widespread and with no protection at all for their victims. Globally, estimated legal coverage represents less than 30 per cent of the working-age population, which is less than 40 per cent of the economically active.

•    On average, 17.2 per cent of global GDP is allocated to social security. However, these expenditures tend to be concentrated in higher-income countries.

•    Unemployment insurance schemes are in place in only 64 of the 184 countries for which information is available. Social assistance, public works and similar programmes also have very limited coverage globally.

•    Globally slightly over a quarter of the world’s adult population (one-third of adult men and one-fifth of adult women) is employed, whether formally or informally, as employees. If one looks only at those who have some kind of employment, less than half globally have the status of wage or salary workers. However, while in developed economies nearly 85 per cent of all employed are employees, the figure is not much more than 20 per cent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, less than 40 per cent in South-East Asia and the Pacific, slightly more than 40 per cent in  East Asia and about 60 per cent in North Africa, the Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean – but not all of them are in formal employment and thus have access to statutory social security benefits.

•    People without social security coverage in developing countries usually work in the informal rather than the formal economy. No access to social security coverage is usually part of the definition of informal employment.

•    In large parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America a minority of employed people are employees. In many African and South-East Asian countries especially less than 30 per cent of the employed work as wage workers.

•    In Asia, Africa and some parts of Latin America, there are large gaps in the scope of social security schemes legally available to at least certain groups of workers.

•    In Africa, North and Latin America, the Middle East and CIS public health-care financing comes mainly from general taxation, while in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe social insurance financing dominates.

•    The allocation for the NREGS programme in India from the national budget for the financial year 2006–07 was 0.3 per cent of GDP. Official cost estimates of the scheme, once fully operational; suggest that the budget could peak at 1.5 per cent of GDP. The programme is regarded as one of the largest rights-based social protection initiatives in the world, reaching around 40 million households living below the poverty line.

The Report titled Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2007-08 by National Sample Survey (NSS), MoSPI, Govt. of India is (http://mospi.gov.in/NSS_Press_note_531_25may10.pdf) based on the household survey on Employment and Unemployment & Migration Particulars conducted in its 64th round. The field work of the nationwide survey was carried out during July 2007 to June 2008. The survey covered a random sample of 5,72,254 persons, from 79,091 rural households and 46,487 urban households spread over 7921 villages and 4668 urban blocks in the country. The Report states that:

A. Household and Population Characteristics

• About 72 per cent of the households belonged to rural India and accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the total population.
• Average household size in India was 4.5. The rural household size (4.7) was slightly higher than urban household size (4.2).

B. Labour Force and Work Force

• According to the usual status (ps+ss), 41 per cent of population belonged to the labour force. This proportion was 43 per cent for rural and 37 per cent for urban areas.
• The labour force participation rate (LFPR) was about 56 per cent of rural males and 29 per cent of rural females. The corresponding proportions in the urban areas were 58 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
• About 40 per cent of the population in the country were employed according usual status (ps+ss). The worker population ratio (WPR) was about 42 per cent in the rural areas and 35 per cent in the urban areas.
• The male WPR in both the rural and urban areas were considerably higher than female WPR. In both the rural and urban areas, male WPR was nearly 55 per cent. Compared to this, the female WPR was 29 per cent in rural areas and 14 per cent in urban areas.
• The WPRs obtained according to current daily status were lower than those obtained in the current weekly status, which, in turn, were lower than those according to usual status rates: WPR in India, was 34 per cent as per current daily status, 37 per cent according to current weekly status, and it was 40 per cent according to usual status.
• Between 2004-2005 and 2007-08, in both rural and urban areas, WPR for males in usual status (ps+ss) remained unchanged at 55 per cent. However, for females, it decreased by about 4 percentage points for rural areas (from 33 per cent to 29 per cent) and about 3 percentage points for urban areas (from 17 per cent to 14 per cent).
• In rural India, among the usually employed (ps+ss), about 67 per cent of males and 84 per cent of females were engaged in agriculture sector. The corresponding figures in 1977-78 were 81 per cent and 88 per cent, respectively.
• In urban India, the ‘trade, hotel and restaurant’ sector engaged about 28 per cent of the male workers, while in ‘manufacturing’ nearly 24 per cent of the male workers were engaged. For urban females, ‘other services’ sector accounted for the highest proportion (38 per cent) of workers, followed by manufacturing (28 per cent) and agriculture (15 per cent).
• Considerable gender differentials in the wage rates (per day) for regular wage/salaried employees were observed. The average wage rate for regular wage/salaried employees, of age 15-59 years, in rural areas was 175.30 for males and Rs. 108.14 for females and in the urban areas, wage rate for males was Rs. 276.04 against Rs. 212.86 for females.
• In the rural areas, average male wage rate (of workers of age 15-59 years) for casual labour other than MGNREG public works was Rs. 76.02 and it was Rs. 70.66 for females.
• There was no gender differential in wage rate for casual labour in MGNREG public works, the wage rate (of workers of age 15-59 years) was nearly Rs. 79.00 for both rural male and rural female.
• In the rural sector, on an average, Rs. 66.59 was earned in a day by a male casual labourer (of age 15-59 years) engaged in casual labours other than public works, whereas a female casual labourer earned Rs. 48.41 a day – showing a difference of about Rs. 18. In the urban areas, a male casual labourer engaged in works other than public works earned Rs. 86.58 in a day and a female, Rs. 51.34 in a day.

C. Unemployment Rate

• At the all-India level, unemployment rate was nearly 8 per cent in the current daily status approach. The unemployment rate stood at nearly 4 per cent in current weekly status approach and 2 per cent in the usual status approach, i.e., in usual (adjusted.).
• In the rural areas, female unemployment rate stood at 8 per cent in current daily status compared to 9 per cent for males while in the urban areas, female unemployment rate in the current daily status was nearly 10 for cent which was 3 percentage point higher compared to male unemployment rate.

D. Underemployment

• The proportion of usually employed males (ps+ss) who are found to be not employed (unemployed+not in the labour force) during the week preceding the date of survey (current weekly status) was 4 per cent in the rural and 2 per cent in the urban areas. The proportion of usually employed females (ps+ss) not employed (unemployed+ not in the labour force) during the week preceding the date of survey was as high as 19 per cent in the rural and 7 per cent in urban areas.
• The proportion of person-days without work (unemployed+ not in the labour force) of the usually employed (ps+ss) was about 36 per cent and 19 per cent for females in rural and urban areas respectively as against 11 per cent and 5 per cent for males in rural and urban areas respectively.
• The percentage of person-days on which persons with some work during the reference week (according to the current weekly status) were without work (unemployed+not in the labour force) was about 7 for rural males, 21 per rural females, 3 for urban males and 12 for urban females.

Note:

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is obtained by dividing the number of persons in the labour force by total population

Usual Principal Status: The labour force is typically measured through the usual principal activity status (UPS) which reflects the status of an individual over a reference period of one year. Thus, a person is classified as belonging to labour force, if s/he had been either working or looking for work during longer part of the 365 days preceding the survey. The UPS measure excludes from the labour force all those who are employed and/or unemployed for a total of less than six months. Thus persons who work intermittently, either because of the pattern of work in the household farm or enterprise or due to economic compulsions and other reasons, would not be included in the labour force unless their days at work and unemployment totalled over half the reference year.

Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status: The Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status (UPSS) concept was introduced to widen the UPS concept to include even those who were outside the labour force on the basis of the majority time criterion but had been employed during some part of the year on a usual basis. In the NSS 61st Round Survey, all those who were either un-employed or out of labour force but had worked for at least 30 days over the reference year were treated as subsidiary status workers. UPSS is thus a hybrid concept incorporating both the major time criterion and priority to work status.

The UPSS measure was used on the ground that it was stable and inclusive: it related to a picture emerging from a long reference period, and even persons working for 30 days or more, but not working for the major part of the year, were included. However, those outside the UPS labour force, seeking or available for work for more than 30 days during the preceding 365 days, were not included in the UPSS labour force.

Current Weekly Status: The concept of Current Weekly Status (CWS) has been in use in the labour force surveys in India even before 1970, when the recommendations of the Dantwala Committee became available. It was primarily because the agencies like International Labour Organization (ILO) use estimates of employment and unemployment rates based on weekly reference period for international comparisons. Under CWS, a person is classified to be in labour force, if s/he has either worked or is seeking and/ or available for work at least one hour during the reference period of one week preceding the date of survey. The CWS participation rates also relate to persons and hence may be roughly compared with those obtained by using UPS and UPSS measurements. However, the reference periods are different and UPS, unlike UPSS and CWS, is based on majority time and does not accord priority to work and unemployment.

Current Daily Status: The Dantwala Committee proposed the use of Current Daily Status (CDS) rates for studying intensity of work. These are computed on the basis of the information on employment and unemployment recorded for the 14 half days of the reference week. The employment statuses during the seven days are recorded in terms of half or full intensities. An hour or more but less than four hours is taken as half intensity and four hours or more is taken as full intensity. An advantage of this approach was that it was based on more complete information; it embodied the time utilisation, and did not accord priority to labour force over outside the labour force or work over unemployment, except in marginal cases. A disadvantage was that it related to person-days, not persons.

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The Annual Report to the people of India on Employment, Ministry of Labour and Employment, July, 2010, (http://labour.nic.in/Report_to_People.pdf) follows a macro framework for analysing emerging employment and labour market situations during the next 5 to 10 years. The report is based mainly on secondary sources of data. Demographic information is obtained from Census of India and information on labour market is based on the employment and unemployment surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). According to the report:

• Based on the 2004-05 NSSO survey, the estimates of total employment in the country varies from 385 million (as per CDS measure) to 459 million (as per UPSS measure).
• Overall assessment of employment situation based on UPSS in the country over relatively two longer periods, i.e.,1983 to 1993-94 (Period I-10.5 years) and 1993-94 to 2004-05 (Period II- 11 years) suggests that employment growth in period I was 2.06% per annum as against 1.87% in the period II.
• The unemployment estimates for 2004-05 varied from 10.8 million (as per usual status - widely referred to as „open unemployment‟) to 35 million (as per daily status which includes both open unemployment and underemployment).
• Analysis of unemployment data for the year 2004-05 reveals that unemployment rates are very high in urban areas, particularly, in the age group of 15-24 years. Female unemployment rate in the age group of 20-24 years is the highest at approximately 27%. Among males, the highest unemployment rate is reported in the 15-19 years age group both in rural as well as urban areas. However, in the 20-24 years age group, male unemployment rates are 12% and 16% in rural and urban areas respectively. Overall, in rural areas unemployment among youth (age 15-24 years) is approximately 12 to 15%.
• Based on the employment elasticity with respect to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) observed during the period 1994-2005, the employment for 2009-10 is estimated to be 506 million with an average annual growth rate of 1.97% for the period 2004-05 to 2009-2010. The labour force for 2009-10 is estimated to be 520 million.
• In India, bulk of the employment (approximately 57%) falls in the category of self employed. Approximately 60% of the rural labour force and 45% of the urban labour force is self-employed.
• In 2004-05, average casual wage for males and females was just Rs. 55 and Rs. 35 respectively in rural areas and Rs. 75 and Rs. 44 respectively in urban areas.
• Gender bias in casual wage payment is low in rural areas (0.63) than in urban areas (0.58).
• About 96% of female employment is in the unorganised sector as against about 91% of males. In urban areas, the percentage of unorganised sector workers is close to 65-70%.
• Approximately 22% workers were estimated to be below the poverty line in 2004-05. This essentially implies that out of a total of 459.1 million workers (UPSS) in 2004-05 approximately about 102 million were poor.
• In rural areas, agriculture constitutes up to 68% of the total rural employment. Approximately 81% female workers and 66% male workers in rural areas are engaged in agriculture.
• Although diversification of the female workforce to non-farm activities in rural areas has been limited up to 2 to 3% since 1993-94, the same in case of male workers has been to the extent of 7 to 8% during the same period.
• Although over the years, incidence of child labour in the country has declined from around 5% in 1993-94 to approximately 3% in 2004-05, children continue to form a sizeable section of labour force in several fields of employment. Currently, total magnitude of child labour in India is estimated to be approximately 10 million. States like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi etc. are having relatively higher concentration of child labour.
• The Census projection report shows that the proportion of population in the working age group (15-59 years) is likely to increase from approximately 58% in 2001 to more than 64% by 2021. In absolute numbers, there will be approximately 63.5 million new entrants to the working age group of 15-59 years between 2011 and 2016. Bulk of this increase in the population is likely to take place in relatively younger age group of 20-35 years. Such a trend would make India as one of the youngest nations in the world.
• In 2004-05, the estimates of total labour force in the country varied from nearly 420 millions (as per Current Daily Status-CDS) to nearly 470 million (as per Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status-UPSS). The difference between the two estimates essentially arises because the lower estimate of 420 million does not capture those persons who join labour market for short periods of time.
• Only 25 to 30% women in rural and 15 to 18% in urban areas participate in labour market. One of the reasons of low participation of women in labour force is the non-recognition of a number of women centric works as economic activities (such as cooking, collection of fuel and fodder, house and utensils cleaning etc.). Moreover, variety of social and family related constraints compel women to confine themselves to household activities at their prime working age. Early exit of women (probably post marital age) from labour market is particularly reflected in urban areas where women face inadequate social and family support system.

According to the Employment and Unemployment Situation in India 2005-06, National Sample Survey 62nd Round:

• Compared to 1993-94, during 2005-06, unemployment rates in terms of the usual principal status, increased by nearly 1 percentage point, except that for females in urban areas, where they remained virtually unchanged.
• Between 2004-2005 and 2005-06, work participation rate (WPR) in the usual status approach in rural areas, remained unchanged at 55 per cent for males and it decreased by about 2 percentage points for females, from 33 per cent to 31 per cent. In urban areas, WPR decreased by about 1 percentage point for males and about 3 percentage points for females.
• Among rural males, the proportion of self-employed had fallen from 61 per cent in 1983 to 57 percent in 2005-06.  On the other hand for females, the proportion remained at the level of 1983 (62 per cent) in 2005-06.
• Distinct gender differential in usual status WPR was observed: 55 per cent for males and 31 per cent for females in the rural areas, and 54 per cent for males and 14 per cent for females in the urban areas.    
• The proportion of person-days without work of the usually employed was about 35 per cent and 18 per cent for females in rural and urban India, respectively as against 11 and 5 per cent for males in rural and urban India, respectively
• In rural India, there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of males engaged in ‘secondary sector (including mining and quarrying)’ – from 10 per cent in 1983 to 17 percent in 2005-06 for males and 7 per cent to 12 per cent for females.
• Among the persons of age 15 years and above in the rural areas, only 5 per cent got work, 7 per cent sought but did not get work and nearly 88 per cent did not even seek work in public works. For males, nearly 6 per cent got work, 8 per cent sought but did not get work and 85 per cent did not seek work in public works. The corresponding figures for females were, 3, 6 and 91 respectively.  
• The proportion of persons who got work in public works decreased with the increase in the MPCE (monthly per capita expenditure) for both males and females. The proportion in the top MPCE class (Rs. 690 and above) for males was only about one-fifth of that in the bottom MPCE class (less than Rs. 320) – nearly 9 per cent in the bottom MPCE class and nearly 2 per cent in the top MPCE class. For females this ratio was about one-fourth – nearly 4 per cent in the bottom MPCE class and nearly 1 per cent in the top MPCE class. 
• The average number of days worked in public works, during the last 365 days, by males and females was almost the same- 17 for males and 18 for females. The maximum number of days worked, for males, was in the top MPCE class (Rs. 690 and above) – 24 days during the last 365 days. For females maximum number of days worked was in the MPCE class (Rs. 510 – Rs. 690) -  23 days during the last 365 days.

 

According to Women in labour markets: Measuring progress and identifying challenges, March 2010, International Labour Office, Geneva,
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_elm/---trends/documents/publication/wcms_123835.pdf:

Labour utilization

• The overall picture of the global capacity to tap the productive potential of its people is one in which nearly half (48.4 per cent) of the productive potential of the female population remains unutilized (compared to 22.3 per cent for men).
• Between 1980 and 2008, the rate of female labour force participation rate (LFPR) increased from 50.2 to 51.7 per cent while the male rate decreased slightly from 82.0 to 77.7 per cent. As a result, the gender gap in labour force participation rates has narrowed slightly from 32 to 26 percentage points.
• Of all people employed in the world, 40 per cent are women. This share has not changed over the last ten years.
• The share of women above the working age (15 years and over in most countries) who are employed (the employment-to-population ratio) was 48.0 per cent in 2009 compared to a male employment-to-population ratio (EPR) of 72.8 per cent.
• In absolute numbers, worldwide there were equal numbers of women and men above the age of 15 years in 2009 (2.5 billion of each), but among these only 1.2 billion women were employed as opposed to 1.8 billion men.
• More than six in ten women remain economically inactive in three regions: South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Labour underutilization

Overall, there is not a significant difference between the sexes when it comes to global unemployment rates but the female rate is consistently slightly higher than the male. The female unemployment rate in 2009 was 7.0 per cent compared to the male rate of 6.3 percent. Also at the country level, the majority of countries have higher unemployment rates for females than males (113 countries out of 152) and 30 countries showed female rates that exceeded male rates by more than 5 percentage points.

Female employment: Where and how women work

• The share of women in wage and salaried work grew during the last ten years from 42.8 per cent in 1999 to 47.3 per cent in 2009 whereas the share of vulnerable employment decreased from 55.9 to 51.2 per cent.
• The shares of persons working in vulnerable employment are high for both sexes, especially in the world’s poorest regions, but still higher for women than for men (51.2 per cent for women and 48.2 per cent for men in 2009).
• Out of the total number of employed women in 2008, 37.1 per cent worked in agriculture and 46.9 per cent in services. Male sectoral shares in comparison were 33.1 per cent in agriculture and 40.4 per cent in services.

The current economic crisis

• The global female unemployment rate increased from 6.0 per cent in 2007 to 7.0 per cent in 2009, slightly more than the male rate which rose from 5.5 to 6.3 per cent. However, in four of nine regions – Developed Economies & European Union, Central & South-Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS, East Asia and South-East Asia & the Pacific – the male unemployment rates increased slightly more than the female rates over the same period.
• Female unemployment rate increased from 14.4 to 15.0 per cent between 2007 and 2009 while the male rate remained constant at 7.7 per cent.

According to the Global Employment Trends by International Labour Organization (ILO), January 2010,

http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_elm/---trends/documents/publication/wcms_120471.pdf:  

• The Developed Economies and European Union, Central and South-Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS, and Latin America and the Caribbean are estimated to have had negative growth rates in 2009, with the fall in annual growth rates between 2008 and 2009 exceptionally large in Central and South-Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS, at 11.0 percentage points. Only in East Asia and South Asia economic growth rates are estimated to have been 5 per cent or more in 2009. In 2007, all regions outside the Developed Economies and European Union recorded growth rates exceeding 5 per cent.
• On the basis of currently available labour market information and the most recent revisions in GDP growth, the global unemployment rate for 2009 is estimated at 6.6 per cent, with a confidence interval (CI) from 6.3 to 6.9 per cent.
• The number of unemployed persons is estimated at 212 million in 2009, with a CI from 202 to 221 million. Based on the point estimate (212 million), this means an increase of almost 34 million over the number of unemployed in 2007, and most of this increase occurred in 2009.
• The global employment-to-population rate (point estimate) dropped from 60.9 per cent in 2008 to 60.4 per cent in 2009, with a CI from 60.2 to 60.6 per cent.
• The largest change in employment-topopulation rates occurred in the Developed Economies and the European Union (decrease by 1.8 percentage points), in Central and South-Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS (minus 1.4 percentage points), and in Latin America and the Caribbean (minus 0.9 points), with more limited decreases in other regions.
• The global employment growth rate was 0.7 per cent in 2009, less than half the growth rate of the working-age population of 1.5 per cent.
• Growth in output per worker are negative in all regions except East Asia, South Asia and North Africa. The largest fall in output per worker occurred in Central and South-Eastern Europe (non- EU) & CIS, minus 4.7 per cent (with a CI between -4.9 and -4.3 per cent), thus reversing part of the gains that were made in the first half of the decade.
• Between 2008 and 2009, the unemployment rate for women increased by 0.8 percentage points and for men by 0.7 percentage points. This means that the gap in unemployment rates by sex increased slightly to 0.6 percentage points between 2008 and 2009, which is the same gap as ten years ago.
• On current estimates, the global youth unemployment rate rose by 1.3 percentage points from 12.1 per cent in 2008 to 13.4 per cent in 2009 (with a CI between 12.7 and 14.0 per cent).
• Globally, youth labour force participation rate decreased by 3.4 percentage points between 1999 and 2009.
• The largest potential negative impact is in South Asia, South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where extreme working poverty may have increased by 9 percentage points or more in the worst case scenario. These estimates reflect that the fact that preceding the crisis, many workers were only just above the poverty line in these regions.
• The regional unemployment rate in South Asia is estimated to have increased to 5.1 per cent in 2009, up from 4.8 per cent in 2008, but little changed from the rates registered between 2004 and 2007. Women face higher unemployment rates in the region, with a rate of 5.9 per cent in 2009 as compared with the male rate of 4.8 per cent. This is despite the fact that women participate to a much lesser extent in the labour market than men.
• The South Asia region’s youth unemployment rate is estimated at 10.7 per cent in 2009, up from 9.9 per cent in both 2008 and 2007.
• South Asia’s unemployment rate is projected to decline slightly to 4.9 per cent in 2010, with a confidence interval of 4.6-5.3 per cent, as GDP growth is expected to edge higher to 6 per cent.
• While there has been much progress in extending social protection in the region through initiatives such as India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which has provided a significant buffer during the crisis, helping to maintain levels of consumption, poverty and vulnerable forms of employment remain widespread and represent tremendous challenges that must be overcome.

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According to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector--NCEUS (2007), Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the Unorganised Sector, http://nceus.gov.in/Condition_of_workers_sep_2007.pdf

• Agricultural labourers, estimated at 8.7 crore in 2004-05, constituted 34 per cent of about 25.3 crore agricultural workers i.e., farmers and agricultural labourers.  
• The unemployment rate for agricultural labourers by the CDS (current daily status) is quite high in rural areas by any standard; 16 per cent for males and 17 per cent for females. 
• The underemployment of usual status agricultural labourers by CDS rates increased during the decade 1993/94-2004/05. In fact, the CDS unemployment rate was exceptionally high at 16 per cent in 2004-05.
• The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 is the only statutory legislation, which ensures minimum wages to agricultural workers. In 2004-05, about 91 per cent of the agricultural labour mandays received wage rates below the National Minimum Wage and about 64 per cent below the NCRL minimum wage norm in rural areas.
• The total number of agricultural workers in India has been estimated at 25.9 crore as of 2004-05.  They form 57 per cent of the workers in the total workforce. About 24.9 crore of them are in rural areas and that works out to be 73 per cent of the total rural workforce of 34.3 crore. Their share in total rural unorganised sector employment is 96 per cent while in unorganized agricultural sector it is 98 per cent. 
• Nearly two-thirds of the agricultural workers (64 per cent) are self-employed, or farmers as we call them, and the remaining, a little over one-third (36 per cent), wageworkers.  Almost all these wage workers (98 per cent) are casual labourers.
• Agricultural workers constituted 56.6 per cent of the total workers in 2004-05, down from 68.6 per cent in 1983. In rural areas, agricultural workers constituted 72.6 per cent of the total workers in 2004-05, down from 81.6 per cent in 1983. 
• Farmers form a major share within the agricultural workforce though there has been a gradual decline in their percentage from 63.5 in 1983 to 57.8 in 1999-00. Between 1999-00 and 2004-05, the percentage of cultivators increased to 64.2, the highest level achieved in 15 years  
• A comparison of employment growth rates between 1983/1993-94 and 1993-94/2004-05 shows that the growth rate of agricultural employment decelerated sharply in the last decade, from 1.4 to 0.8 per cent. Although the growth of total employment also declined from 2.1 per cent during 1983/1993-94 to 1.9 per cent during 1993-94/2004-05, this deceleration was clearly not so sharp. 
• The proportion of households with no land possessed increased from 13 per cent in 1993-94 to 14.5 percent in 2004-05. The share of landlessness among the agricultural labourers was 19.7 per cent in 2004-05. More than 60 per cent of the agricultural labourers had sub-marginal holdings up to 0.4 hectares and that remained more or less constant over the period. Landlessness or small size of holdings forces the workers to engage as labourers to maintain their subsistence levels.

The India Labour Market Report 2008, which has been prepared by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Adecco Institute, London,

http://www.macroscan.org/anl/may09/pdf/Indian_Labour.pdf show:

Self-Employment 

• The percentage of self-employment varies between 30 to 70 % across states. It appears that self-employment is more prominent in less developed states as states such as Bihar (61%), Uttar Pradesh (69%), Rajasthan (70 %) have high proportion of self-employment. It is low in comparatively developed states like Kerala (42%), Delhi (38%) and Goa (34%). 
• The patterns reveal that both male and female in self employed categories have similar demographic profile. Overall, it can be seen that across all the age categories, more rural people are engaged in self-employment than urban people. 
• Females with lower educational attainment are more in proportion than males in the self-employed category. Overall, it appears that the majority of the self-employed have low levels of education. 
• In terms of sectoral composition of the self employed, it can be seen that self employment is highest in agriculture, followed by trade. Together these activities constitute nearly three fourth of the total self-employed. 

Casual Labour Market 

• At the all-India level, as per the NSSO 62nd round survey estimates, around 31 % of employment is in the casual labour market and female participation in the casual labour market is more as compared to male. 
• The rate of absorption in the casual labour market starts to decline after 34 years, indicating that, workers with a demographic dividend have a higher rate of absorption in the casual labour market.  
• Participation in the casual labour market reduces with improved education across gender and region. Majority of the casual labour force, is either illiterate, or just have primary level of education. 
• Agriculture continues to be the main sector, where almost 70 % of the casual labour is absorbed, followed by the industry and service sector respectively. Comparatively developed states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab have more casual labour in agriculture. Whereas in less developed states, like Rajastan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttaranchal, the absorption of casual labour into the industry is high. 
• Within the industry, manufacturing is the main occupation for casual labour in many less developed states. Casual labour in construction also seems to be higher in predominately less developed states. 

Population Not in Labour Force 

• Gender composition of persons not in labour force revels that the percentage of females is disproportionately higher as compared to males across regions. 
• The percentage of urban females not in labour force is higher than their rural counterparts. While in most states the percentage of rural females not in labour force is around 60-70%, the same figure for their urban counterparts is around 80%. 
• A high percentage of females, belonging to the age-group of 25 to 59, are out of labour force (47-57%), while the corresponding percentage for males is negligible (1-9%). Moreover, a significant percentage of females out of labour force also have high educational qualifications. As high as 68% graduate females are not in labour force, while the corresponding figures for male is only 13%. At the post-graduate level, percentage of females not in labour force is around 53% while it is only around 10% for males. 
• A huge proportion of females remain out of labour force due to domestic duties. Even in the working age-group of 25-59, the figure stands at around 60%. The figures are similar for both urban and rural females. 
• State-wise distribution of persons who are not in labour force does not show much variation. The percentage figures are similar for males across states. However, there are significant variations among females not in labour force. The highest percentage of females not in labour force is in the Northern states of Delhi (92.10%) and Chattisgarh (89.50%), and the lowest is in the state of Himachal Pradesh (51.70%). 
• The highest percentage (around 40%) of persons with disability is found within the males (higher in case of rural males), in the working age group of 25 to 60. A majority of this category is not literate. 

Unemployment and Underemployment

• Unemployment rates are higher for urban persons as compared to rural persons. Urban women have the highest unemployment rates at 9.22% and rural women have the lowest rates at 7.31%. 
• A state wise analysis for unemployment trends reveals that comparatively developed states such as Goa and Kerala have the highest unemployment rates of 11.39% and 9.13% respectively. Whereas lowest unemployment rates of 0.48% and 0.77% are found in less developed states such as Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh. 
• Unemployment is highest for the age categories of 10 to 24 corroborating the view that youth unemployment is on the rise in India. 
• The unemployment rate is seen to increase, with an increase in educational attainment and is particularly high after the secondary level of education. Unemployment rate among educated females, in both urban and rural areas, is the highest. 
• Estimation of underemployment levels reveals that underemployment is widespread among females in general and rural females in particular. 
• Underemployment levels calculated across the employment status shows that self–employed and casual labour categories have the highest levels of underemployment. Among the regular wage/ salaried labour, underemployment is negligible.

Employment and unemployment in Emerging Sectors

• In terms of employment in the emerging sector, a large number of people are employed in the retail sector, which includes both the organized and unorganized labour market (7.1%).
• Second largest labour market comprises the construction industry (5.9%). Almost 7.7 percent of the total male work force is employed in this industry. Nearly 8.7 percent of the urban and 5 percent of the rural workers are involved in this sector.
• In the transport sector, 7.5 percent of the workers are males and only 0.1 percent are females, a pattern common to both the urban and rural segments in India
• Employment in the IT sector is non-existent in rural areas and it appears that these sectors are pro-urban since they need educated and highly skilled workers. The pattern of employment in the media and pharmaceutical sectors is predominantly urban, similar to that in the IT and software sectors.
• The hospitality and health care sectors seem to provide more opportunities to women.
• In sectors like Mining, Textiles, Metals, Gems and Jewellery, Automobile, Transport and IT/BPO, the rate of decline in employment was at 1.01% for the period October – December 2008. It was lower at 0.74% in November 2008. However, the rate increased to 1.17% for January 2009.
• All sectors barring IT/BPO (business process outsourcing), show a negative rate of growth of employment for the period from October to December 2008. The maximum decline in employment was observed in the gems and jewellery industry. The IT/BPO sector that showed a positive employment trend in the October to December 2008 period, but the December 2008 to January 2009 reported a declining rate of -1.66%.
• The overall rate for the December 2008 to January 2009 period was (-)1.17%.
• For the period of October to December 2008, direct non manual workers experienced a decline in employment with the gems and jewellery industry accounting for the highest at 6.17%.
• Overall, out of all the categories of direct and contract workers, manual contract workers experienced the highest unemployment while the non –manual contract workers show a gain in employment for the period of October to December 2008.