|
The
Crisis and Employment in Asia |
| Feb
15th 2010, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Despite
scepticism about its sustainability, evidence shows
that the crisis of 2008-09 has bottomed out and a recovery
is likely, driven by the fiscal stimulus offered by
governments across the world. But figures from the ILO
indicate that the impact of the stimulus on employment
appears uneven, with export dependent economies in Asia
too adversely affected. |
|
| The
Plight of Construction Workers |
| Aug
5th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Lakhs
of construction workers in Delhi face inadequate safety
provisions, poor working arrangements and dire living
conditions. But, even as the money collected as cess
for meeting the social security needs of these workers
lies unutilised, an outlandish proposal has been made
to use a part of this money in a way that will effectively
subsidise contractors and builders. |
|
| Indian
Labour Market Report 2008 |
| May
11th 2009. |
|
| The
paradoxical feature of a positive GDP growth rate along
with unfavourable employment trends have been one of the
most pressing contemporary concerns related to the opening
up of the Indian economy. This first bi-annual report
published by the Adecco-TISS Labour Market Research Initiatives
seeks to provide a thorough analysis of the current situation
of the Indian labour market in terms of its composition
across different segments, sectors, regions and gender.
It includes detailed analysis of unemployed and underemployed
labour force and even those who are not in the labour
force. The industry perspective on issues of employment
is also captured through a primary survey of select industries
in the manufacturing and emerging sectors. |
|
| Social
Inclusion in the NREGS |
| Mar
5th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is known
to be self-targeting in that only the poorer sections
of society are likely to be interested in hard physical
work that can fetch at most only the minimum daily wage.
But there were fears that it would still exclude socially
marginal groups, including women, Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes. The article examines the current evidence
on the extent to which such groups have been involved
in NREGS work in the different major states. |
|
| Equity
and Inclusion through Public Expenditure: The potential
of the NREGS
|
| Jan
29th 2009, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| A
much discussed aspect of post-reform industrial performance
is the stagnation of employment in the organised manufacturing
sector, despite high rates of output growth. The authors
examine this performance and relate this to the composition
of growth in the registered manufacturing sector, and
suggest that demand-side factors may have an important
explanatory role. |
|
| Employment
and the Pattern of Growth
|
| Oct
8th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
A
much discussed aspect of post-reform industrial performance
is the stagnation of employment in the organised manufacturing
sector, despite high rates of output growth. The authors
examine this performance and relate this to the composition
of growth in the registered manufacturing sector, and
suggest that demand-side factors may have an important
explanatory role. |
|
| Implementing
the NREGS
|
| Sep
24th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
Despite
many problems, the enormous potential of the NREGS to
generate more employment directly and indirectly as
well as to transform rural economic and social relations
is already evident in some states and districts. In
this article, the authors examine the official evidence
on implementation thus far. |
|
| Public
Health on The Cheap
|
| Aug
1st 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Government
policy in the social sectors in India clearly relies heavily
on the unpaid or underpaid labour of women. These women
often perform essential and demanding tasks that typically
amount to full-time work, but are not given the status
of regular government employees, and paid wages that fall
below the minimum wages. |
|
| Bread,
Circuses and The Media |
| Jun
6 th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
obsession of the media with the middle classes in urban
areas means that issues related to the working class
and rural population often gets inadequate coverage.
When serious issues like worsening labour conditions
in a big growing city like Delhi goes unnoticed despite
a major strike to protest the same, the role of the
media in bringing to our attention the realities of
India cannot but be questioned. |
| |
| The
Crisis of Home-based Work |
| May
17th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Recent
data on employment shows that the share of women working
in manufacturing in a subsidiary capacity has been increasing
continuously since 1987-88. This shows the increase
in “putting out” home-based or other work as part of
a subcontracting system for export and domestic manufacturing,
which are not included in official employment statistics.
These are often on piece rate basis, usually very poorly
paid and without any known non-wage benefits |
| |
| The
Impact of Macroeconomic Change on Employment in the Retail
Sector in India: Policy Implications for Growth, Sectoral
Change and Employment |
| May
15th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh, Amitayu Sengupta & Anamitra Roychoudhury |
|
| This
study is concerned with the employment situation in India’s
retail sector. High economic growth in India has not produced
satisfactory outcomes of job growth, both in terms of
quantity and quality. Concern has arisen that many of
the working poor engaged in small-scale retailing and
street vending are crowded by entries of large-scale domestic
as well as foreign retailers. Share of workers’ income
in manufacturing has also seen a decline, despite labour
productivity growth, during the last decade. This paper
argues that economic policy in India needs to be made
more inclusive and equitable. The only sure way of doing
so would be making it more pro-job and pro-poor, through
examining employment implications of macro policies that
accompany economic liberalization. |
| |
| Recent
Growth in West Bengal |
| May
12th 2008, C. P. Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
state of West Bengal has been the focus of national discussion
because of the various implications of its proposed industrialisation
policy. In this article the authors consider the background
to this policy by analysing the most recent available
evidence on growth trends in West Bengal. |
| |
| The
NREGA and its Critics |
| Mar
10th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Contrary
to the media criticism of NREGPA based on the recent CAG
draft report on grounds of leakages, widespread corruption,
inability to reach beneficiaries and create useful assets,
the CAG Report has actually pointed out that the shortage
of administrative and technical staff has prevented the
programme from doing what it was supposed to do to the
full extent The report also highlights the urgent need
to ensure more administrative assistance for the programme
at all levels. |
| |
| Dealing
with Short-Term Migration
|
| Oct
4th 2007, C. P. Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Short-term
migration for work has evidently increased rapidly in
recent times in India, but our statistical systems are
currently not adequate to capture such flows of labour.
In this edition of MacroScan, C. P. Chandrasekhar and
Jayati Ghosh discuss the limitations of the existing data,
the tendencies that do emerge and the policy implications
of short-term economic migration. |
| |
| Social
Security Benefits and the New Pension Scheme
|
| Sep
29th 2007, Ratan Khasnabis |
|
| The
New Pension Scheme (NPS) is radically different from
the existing scheme that ensures a defined benefit from
the employee without asking for a collateral contribution.
Therefore social security in the form of defined benefit
is a right which is being denied by the very concept
of NPS. Secondly, the article argues that there are
problems with the expected return of an equity-linked
financial instrument which the NPS attempts to be as
there is no guarantee that the returns from equities
would always be better than the guaranteed returns.
|
| |
| Jobless
Growth in Chinese Manufacturing
|
| May
15th 2007, C.P Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| While
China is increasingly seen as “the workshop of the world”
and there are fears of relocative shifts in manufacturing
output and employment away from other countries to China,
the recent pattern of manufacturing growth appears to
have been characterised by declining employment. In this
paper, the authors investigate the trends in manufacturing
employment in China and consider the reasons for this
paradox. |
| |
|
Is Contract Farming Really the Solution for Indian Agriculture? |
| May
15th 2007, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Even
the contract farming experience in Punjab, which is
generally considered successful, shows that contract
farming holds numerous problems for agriculture in developing
countries like India. If contract framing is to improve
the condition of cultivators rather than intensify the
ongoing agrarian crisis, it is important to have a system
of state regulation, intermediation and monitoring of
contract farming practices to ensure the interests of
farmers. |
| |
| The
Progress of "Reform" and the Retrogression of
Agriculture
|
| Apr
25th 2007, C. P. Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
consequence of recent structural shifts is that the Indian
economy can record the observed creditable rates of non-inflationary
growth of aggregate GDP even when its agricultural sector
languishes. It appears that a feature of the growth process
in a more open and liberalised environment is that the
peasantry has a much smaller a role in sustaining economic
growth and can thus be partially excluded from development.
What is disconcerting is that the self-correcting mechanism
that existed in the earlier period to restore a semblance
of balance between agricultural and non-agricultural growth
are no more operative. |
| |
| A
Model of Growth of the Contemporary Indian Economy
|
| Apr
10th 2007, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
| This
paper provides a simple model of the current pattern of
India's economic growth process, to reckon with the fact
that even an accelerating growth rate may leave the unemployment
problem completely unresolved, or even accentuated, as
labour productivity rises at a faster rate than investment.
An obvious conclusion that emerges is that the widely-held
perception that higher and higher growth rates would eventually
eradicate unemployment in the country, is untenable. |
| |
| Recent
Employment Trends in India and China: An Unfortunate Convergence? |
| Apr
5th 2007,C. P. Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh
|
|
| This
paper argues that both China and India, despite the similarity
of the current international hype about their future economic
prospects and also despite their obvious differences,
face rather similar economic problems at present with
respect to the labour market. In both countries, the strategy
of development is delivering relatively high growth without
commensurate increases in employment, especially in the
organised sector; and the bulk of new employment is in
lower productivity activities under uncertain and often
oppressive conditions. It is argued that this paradox
may be a common result of the similar strategy of economic
expansion currently being followed in both countries. |
| |
| Self-employment
as Opportunity or Challenge
|
| Mar
30th 2007, C.P Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
enormous increase in the proportion and number of self-employed
workers in India in recent years is still not adequately
analysed. This paper looks at the conditions of self-employment
in terms of perceptions of remuneration and work intensity.
It is shown that the rising trend of self-employment
reflects the precarious conditions of labour markets
in India, where paid employment is simply not increasing
fast enough to meet the needs of the growing labour
force. |
| |
| Some
Aspects of the Well-Being of India's Agricultural Labour
in the Context of Contemporary Agrarian Crisis
|
| Feb
22nd 2007, Praveen Jha |
|
| The
tremendous economic pressure that the Indian countryside
has come under in the recent years is bound to impact
the well-being of the masses in the rural economy. This
paper is an attempt to examine the key elements of the
contemporary agrarian crisis and its possible consequences
for agricultural labourers. It appears that their economic
conditions, in any case quite fragile and vulnerable even
in 'better' times, have taken quite a battering in the
recent years. |
| |
| Singur
and the Political Economy of Structural Change |
| Feb
17th 2007, Mritiunjoy Mohanty |
|
| The
paper explores the controversy that has surrounded the
West Bengal Government's land acquisition programme in
Singur and situates it within the overall context of economic
growth and transformation. It argues one of the most adversely
affected groups as a result of the acquisition is relatively
large farmers for whom agriculture is a source of accumulation
and not livelihood and subsistence. This might explain
in part why the resistance has been so strong. The paper
argues that equitable and sustained growth is possible
only by reducing the share of agriculture in the labour
force and therefore that the West Bengal Government's
strategy has to focus on maximising the generation of
non-farm rural employment. |
| |
| Women
Workers in Urban India
|
| Feb
6th 2007, C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
most recent data on employment suggest that employment
growth in the first half of this decade has been rapid
among urban women. This paper investigates the changing
patterns of women's paid work in urban India and questions
whether or not these trends can be seen as a sign of
a vibrant dynamic economy undergoing positive structural
transformation. |
| |
| Growth,
Employment and Technology
|
| Feb
5th 2007, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| There
is a strong case for evolving a growth strategy that
allows and encourages labour productivity increases
overall, while significantly expanding expenditure in
social sectors that positively affect the conditions
of life of most citizens. This in turn requires a major
role for state intervention, through direct public investment
and through fiscal, monetary and market-based measures
that alter the structure of incentives for private agents. |
| |
| Growth
and Employment in Organised Industry
|
| Jan
30th 2007, C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
| |
|
| The
rapid growth of output of organised industry is a frequently
cited indicator of India's current phase of dynamic
growth. Yet such expansion has not been accompanied
by employment growth along the lines expected. This
paper considers the nature of recent growth in organised
industry and the reasons why it has not generated more
employment. |
| |
| Poverty
and Neo-liberalism in India
|
| Jan
6th 2007, Utsa Patnaik |
|
|
This
paper explores why the official poverty estimates show
low levels as well as decline in poverty in India over
the 1990s, whereas all other economic and social indicators
suggest that absolute poverty is high. The former do
not capture the true picture because the official method
involves the 'fallacy of equivocation'. It is also argued
that when actual rural poverty is as high as nearly
four-fifths of the population and poverty depth is increasing
with a higher proportion of people being pushed down
into lower nutritional status, there is an urgent need
to revert to a demand-driven universal public distribution
system. |
| |
| Being
Your Own Boss |
| Dec
18th 2006, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Around
half of the work force in India currently does not work
for a direct employer not only in agriculture, but increasingly
in a wide range of non-agricultural activities. This
significance of self-employment brings home the urgent
need to consider basic social security that covers not
just hired workers in the unorganised sector, but also
those who typically work for themselves. |
| |
| The
Jobless Young |
| Dec
8th 2006, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
arguments about the economic benefits that a demographic
bulge can provide India become invalid against the backdrop
of the latest NSS data on employment and unemployment.
The growing numbers of young unemployed given by the
recent data suggest that the potential advantages of
a demographic dividend will be outweighed by social
instability. |
| |
| Resources
for Equitable Growth |
| Dec
7th 2006, Economic Research Foundation |
|
| The
declared aims of the Planning Commission's Approach
to the XIth Plan, all of which require substantially
increased public expenditure in physical infrastructure
and social sectors, simply cannot be met within the
confines of a restrictive fiscal policy stance. The
need to rethink policies of resource generation and
financial regulation is therefore urgent. In this context,
this paper, presented to the National Commission on
Enterprises in the Informal Sector, seeks to examine
the effects of the three perceptions underlying the
prevailing fiscal conservatism, questions their validity
and offers some alternatives for mobilising resources
for development. |
| |
| Working
More for Less |
| Nov
28th 2006, C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| In
a previous article analysing the latest NSS large survey
on employment, it was noted that the recent employment
growth has been dominated by self employment for men
and self employment plus regular work for women. In
this article, the authors investigate the conditions
of employment, in particular remuneration for work.
It is found that a large part of the increase in self-employment
is a distress-driven phenomenon, led by the inability
to find adequately gainful paid employment.
|
| |
| Employment
Growth: The Latest Trends |
| Nov
17th 2006, C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
results of the latest large sample survey, the 61st
Round of the NSSO, on employment and unemployment have
just been released. They suggest that there have been
significant changes in the pattern of employment over
the past five years. In the first of a set of articles,
C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh consider the broad
employment trends in urban and rural India. Subsequent
articles will deal with the conditions of employment,
average wages, unemployment and specific issues relating
to employment among the young population.
|
| |
|
Social
Inequality, Labour Market Dynamics and the Need for Expanding
Reservation - Some Issues for Consideration |
| Sep
5th 2006, Mritiunjoy Mohanty |
|
|
This paper brings two new elements
to the debate around expanding reservation in centres
of excellence in higher education. First, it establishes
that Upper Caste Hindus are significantly better off
in education, employment and relative incomes than ST,
SC or OBC populations. Second, it links this privileged
positioning of Upper Castes Hindus with changing labour
market dynamics in the 1990s and shows how Upper Caste
Hindus dominate the best jobs in the Urban economy.
Since access to high quality tertiary education then
becomes key to accessing the most dynamic segment of
a decelerating labour market, the paper therefore argues
that expanding reservations to OBCs in public institutions
of higher learning is imperative. |
| |
|
The Need to Protect Petty Production |
| Jul
17th 2006, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
|
This paper argues that in a situation
where unemployment is generated through the disappearance
of small-scale production, the ''efficiency'' argument
in favour of their closure does not stand, even if small-scale
units are more inefficient at the micro-level. The destruction
of petty production through exposure to liberal trade,
in the name of efficiency, is therefore an undesirable
course of action. |
| |
| Providing
Social Security to Unorganised Workers |
| Jun
26th 2006, C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
lack of provision of basic social security for the vast
bulk of workers in India is one of the more depressing
features of Indian society. This is sought to be corrected
in the recent recommendations of the National Commission
for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector. In this paper,
the authors consider the main proposals in the Report
and the associated legislation that will be required,
and argue that this must become a priority issue for
the government. |
| |
| The
Children of Migrant Workers |
| Jun
3rd 2006, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Given
the dangers involved in allowing the neglect of migrant
workers to continue, it is absolutely imperative for
both society at large and government policy in particular,
to make the issue of basic protection for migrant families
and the provision of public services and systems for
migrants, including children, a basic priority.
|
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