Women's participation in labor force of India: 2000-2009

IMT Ghaziabad

Group 5:Anindya Kishore Bhadra (09IB-005)Anoop Kurup (09IB-008)Baiju Hindocha (09IB-027)Joseph Thomas (09IB-029)Jithu Pillai (09IB-035)Rahul Chatterjee (09IB-043)

Introduction

• Indian economy post independence – Primarily agricultural

• Share of agriculture in GDP down to one-third but still employs two-third of work-force

• Rapidly growing economy post-liberalisation helps in reducing poverty

• Accompanying challenges include inequitable wealth distribution affecting vulnerable groups – including women

Labor market in India

• 3 Sectors of Indian labor market: Rural workers (60%), Organised sector (8%), Urban unorganised sector (32%)

• Labor force categories: Self employed workers, Wage earners, Casual workers & Unemployed

• Self employed: Working in own farm or non-farm enterprises, most loosely connected to labor market

• Wage earners: Earn regular wage, not on basis of periodic renewal of work contract

• Casual workers: Engaged on a day-to-day basis, no job or social security, closest connection to labor market

• Unemployed: Actively seeking work, closely associated to labor market

• Self employed and casual worker status more prevalent in rural than urban India and among female than male workers

• Unemployment higher in urban than rural workforce: 48% of unemployed come from 22% of workforce

Increase in labor force of India

Division and Distribution Statistics of Labor in India

Shifting gender roles in labor

• Increasing workforce requirement due to industrialisation, rapidly growing economy

• Women's class, race, ethnicity etc intertwine with gender to define job options

• Women started with clerical roles, moved to service and sales related jobs and now also take up other high-level white-collar jobs

• Still overrepresented in traditionally feminized jobs

Contd…

• Increasing women participation in labor force due to shift from agriculture to manufacturing to services based economy

• Women workforce participation lower than men in urban and rural areas, rose to 19% in 2004

• Work participation rate rose from 19.67% in 1981 to 26.68% in 2001

• More women in workforce from rural areas compared to urban areas

Contd…

• Rural women workers mainly employed in agriculture and cottage industries

• Urban women primarily employed in the unorganised sector

• 50.16 lac women employed in organised sector in 2005, 58% in public sector, 42% in private sector

• Employment of women rose by 1.1% in public sector and 2.5% in private sector in 2004-2005

Distribution of women in organised

sector: 2005

Genderwise employment in

organised sector: 2004

Some vital statistics

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 20040

20

40

60

80

100

120

No. of women job seekers

No. of women (Lacs)% to total

2000 2001 2002 2003 20040

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

No. of educated women job seekers

No. of women ('00 lacs)% to total

• Kerala has maximum women job-seekers (21.1 lacs) followed by WB and TN. Rajasthan has the minimum (1.0 lac)

• The percentage of educated women job seekers among the total women job seekers has gone down from 73.3% in 2001 to 70.4% in 2004

• Manufacturing faced a dip of 1.1% in women employment in 2005

• Wholesale & retail trade showed an increase of 7.8%

• Mining and quarrying trade showed an increase of 5.6%

• Agriculture and animal husbandry showed an increase of 5.5%

• Finance, insurance & real estate services showed an increase of 5.2%

• Electricity, gas & water showed an increase of 1.7%

• Construction showed an increase of 1.5%

• Social services showed an increase of 1.4%

• Transport showed an increase of 1.2%

Women labor

• Women lag behind men in terms of level and quality of employment

• 25.6% of total female population registered as workers

• Majority of women workers employed in rural areas

• Highest women employment in social services• Lowest in electricity, gas & water sectors

• Government focus to remove handicaps, strengthen bargaining capacity, improve wages & working conditions and enhance their skills

• Social customs, traditions and cultural considerations affect the type of work performed by men and women in India

• For example, in agriculture, land preparation and ploughing are seen as the responsibility of men, and activities like transplanting and weeding are regarded as women’s jobs

Participation of rural women in India in labor force(State Wise)

Labor market conditions across states

• Significantly different labor markets across India, our focus on employment, participation and earnings

• High correlation between employment rates and participation rates (95% overall and 99% for women)

• Low employment & participation rates in NE states, UP & Bihar

• High income levels but low employment & participation rates in Delhi, Kerala & WB

• High employment & participation rates in TN, AP, Karnataka, Gujarat & Rajasthan

• Variation in female employment rates significantly higher than for men, regional patterns not clear

• Besides NE states, UP & Bihar, female employment & participation rates are surprisingly low in WB & prosperous Punjab

• High in TN, AP, Karnataka, Gujarat & Maharashtra

• Variation in female participation rates 15-20 times higher than in males

Male & female employment rates across states

Female participation rates across states

Employment growth: Trends

Annual rates of employment growth• Late 90's showed dramatic deceleration but

recovery in 2004-2005• Better recovery in rural areas• Still lower than rates recorded in '88-'94

Labor force participation rates

• Follow trend of employment growth rates• Recovered to levels of earlier decade for rural

males & females• Significant increase in rates for urban males &

females• Includes declining rates among youth (age 15-29) &

a rise for older age groups

93-94 99-00 04-050

10

20

30

40

50

60

Labor force participation rates - Usual status

Rural Males

Rural Females

Urban Males

Urban Females

93-94 99-00 04-050

10

20

30

40

50

60

Labor force participation rates - Current daily status

Rural Males

Rural Females

Urban Males

Urban Females

Share of casual labor in usual status employment• Casual labor has fallen in proportion to total labor

Share of self employment in usual status employment• Significant increase in self-employment among all

categories of workers

Employment by industry

• Decline in agriculture as a share of rural employment, rise in construction

• Decline in trade, hotels and restaurants for urban males & females

• Rise in construction & transport related activities for urban men

• Rise in manufacturing (self-employed) for urban women

Table 2: Employment by industry [per cent of employment according to Usual Status (PS+SS)]1993-94 1999-2000 2004-05

Agriculture74.1 53.4 66.586.2 85.4 83.3

9 6.6 6.124.7 17.7 18.1

Manufacturing7 7.3 7.97 7.6 8.4

23.5 22.4 23.524.1 24 28.3

Construction3.2 4.5 6.80.9 1.1 1.56.9 8.7 9.24.1 4.8 3.8

Trade, hotels & restaurants5.5 6.8 8.32.1 2 2.5

21.9 29.4 2810 16.9 12.2

Transport, storage & communications2.2 3.2 3.90.1 0.1 29.7 10.4 10.71.3 1.8 1.4

Other services7 6.1 5.9

3.4 3.7 3.926.4 21 20.835 34.2 35.9

  Rural males  Rural females  Urban males  Urban females

  Rural males  Rural females  Urban males  Urban females

  Rural males  Rural females  Urban males  Urban females

  Rural males  Rural females  Urban males  Urban females

  Rural males  Rural females  Urban males  Urban females

  Rural males  Rural females  Urban males  Urban females

Summing up

• We have seen how regional differences in labor-market outcomes are striking in India, exception to this are wages which converge across rural & urban India

• Along with this, unemployment in states explain low rates of urbanization and economic migration in India

• Relationship between growth & employment rates is clear in the long term

• Increasing employment opportunities for females will help to arrest the decline in female-participation rates

• Economic opportunities are the strongest factor affecting female participation

• Steadily growing economy and development have led to rising female participation in labor force of India, rise will continue in coming years as women overcome different barriers

Thank You