Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues
Class 11 · Economics · 28 Questions
In your house or neighbourhood, you might come across many women who, even though they have technical degrees and diplomas and also free time to go to work, do not go to work. Ask them the reasons for not going to work. List all of them and discuss in the classroom whether they should go for work and why, and also ways by which they could be sent for work. Some social scientists argue that housewives working at home without getting paid for that work must also be regarded as contributing to the gross national product and therefore, as engaged in an economic activity. Would you agree?
Mark (a), (b) and (c) against self-employed, regular salaried employees and casual wage labourers respectively: Owner of a saloon; Worker in a rice mill who is paid on daily basis but employed regularly; Cashier in State Bank of India; Typist working in a state government office on a daily wage basis but paid monthly; A handloom weaver; Loading worker in wholesale vegetable shop; Owner of a cold drinks shop which sells Pepsi, Coca Cola and Mirinda; Nurse in a private hospital who gets monthly salary and has been working regularly for the past 5 years.
Economists point out that casual wage labourers are the most vulnerable among the three categories. Could you locate who these workers are and where they are found and why?
Can we say that the self-employed earn more than the casual wage labourers or regular salaried employees? Identify a few other indicators of quality of employment.
Do you know that maintaining employment growth at 2 per cent for a country like India is not an easy thing? Why?
What will happen if there is no additional employment generated in the economy even though we are able to produce goods and services in the economy? How could jobless growth happen?
Economists say that if casualisation increases the earning of the people, such phenomenon should be welcomed. Suppose a marginal farmer becomes a full-time agricultural labourer, do you think he will be happy even if he earns more in his daily wage work? Or will a permanent and regular worker of the pharmaceutical industry be happy if he becomes a daily wage labourer, even if his or her overall earnings increase? Discuss in the classroom.
Who is a worker?
Define worker-population ratio.
Are the following workers — a beggar, a thief, a smuggler, a gambler? Why?
Find the odd man out (i) owner of a saloon (ii) a cobbler (iii) a cashier in Mother Dairy or Milk Cooperative Society of your area (iv) a tuition master (v) transport operator (vi) construction worker.
The newly emerging jobs are found mostly in the _____ sector
An establishment with four hired workers is known as _____ sector establishment.
Raj is going to school. When he is not in school, you will find him working in his farm. Can you consider him as a worker? Why?
Compared to urban women, more rural women are found working. Why?
Meena is a housewife. Besides taking care of household chores, she works in the cloth shop which is owned and operated by her husband. Can she be considered as a worker? Why?
Find the odd man out (i) rickshaw puller who works under a rickshaw owner (ii) mason (iii) mechanic shop worker (iv) shoeshine boy.
The following table shows the population and worker population ratio for India in 1999-2000.
| Region | Estimates of Population (in crores) | Worker Population Ratio | Estimated No. of Workers (in crores) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rural | 71.88 | 41.9 | |
| Urban | 28.52 | 33.7 | ? |
| Total | 100.40 | 39.5 | ? |
Can you estimate the workforce (urban and total) for India?
Why are regular salaried employees more in urban areas than in rural areas?
Why are less women found in regular salaried employment?