Publications & Resources
Our faculty, students and researchers work together everyday to contribute to a better world by grappling with urgent problems we are facing in India. We conduct rigorous work to produce high quality learning resources and publications to contribute to public discourse and social change. Here, we feature a sample from our work for everyone to access. You can explore featured resources, policies, and the latest publications from the University.
To explore all the work of our University, please visit our publications repository.
Chapter in a Book
Neoliberalism and Women’s Work: A Study of the Informal Economy in India
in Taylor & Francis
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
In this chapter, the researchers critically examine the emancipatory role of neoliberalism with a focus on women’s work in India. They argue that the multi-pronged crisis afflicting the labour market is a fallout of the implementation of the neoliberal project in India that had severely impacted women workers, who typically are one of the oppressed sections in society. They argue that neoliberalism leads to the proliferation of social orthodoxies that promote patriarchal gender contracts whereby men are the primary breadwinners while women are mainly responsible for social reproduction in the ‘domestic’ space.
They highlight that the neoliberal regime in India is associated with declining participation in paid work for women workers, notwithstanding the rapid growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the economy has been witnessing. This is in the backdrop of India having one of the lowest rates of participation in paid employment of women workers. They claim that women’s work participation in India is affected by the production conditions in Indian agriculture and the burden of unpaid care work. However, increased participation in paid work — the quantitative dimension — does not necessarily lead to women’s empowerment under neoliberalism. This is largely due to the proliferation of the informal sector, which has been the major source of paid work for women workers. The researchers contend that women workers encounter two layers of subordination and control in the labour market that become acute in the informal sector, which is associated with a lack of worker’s rights. They are subordinated, first, by the dominance of capital and, second, by the patriarchal social order. These, in turn, adversely impact the quality and economic value of women’s work. They argue that the degradation of the economic value of women’s work has led to the accentuation of the gender bias that endangers the chances of survival of the girl child in a society characterised by deep-rooted patriarchy.
The contemporary precarity of women’s work — in terms of quantity and quality of work — also reflects the existing social orthodoxies that loom large in the private and public domains in India. Lastly, based on the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey database, they argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the structural inequalities in the economy and added a layer to the existing vulnerabilities of women workers.
Authors: Mampi Bose, Shantanu De Roy
Links
Article
Structural Transformation and Employment Generation in India: Past Performance and the Way Forward
in The Indian Journal of Labour Economics
Article
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Historical experience suggests that a sustained rise in per capita incomes and improvement in employment conditions is not attainable without a structural transformation that moves surplus labour from agriculture and other informal economic activities to higher productivity activities in the non-farm economy. In this paper, I analyse India’s performance from a cross-country comparative perspective, estimating the growth semi-elasticity of structural change. Using a cross-country panel regression, I estimate the effectiveness of growth in moving workers away from agricultural and informal activities as compared to other developing countries at similar levels of per capita income. I show that the performance in pulling workers out of agriculture is as expected given its level and growth of GDP per capita, but the same is not true for pulling workers out of the informal sector. I also propose the following five indicators that need to be kept track of when evaluating the growth process: the growth elasticity of employment, the growth semi-elasticity of structural change, the growth of labour productivity in the subsistence sector, the share of the organised sector in total employment and the workforce participation rate. Comparing these indicators across periods, states, regions or countries, allow us to understand which sets of policies have worked better than others to effective improvements in employment conditions. When taken together the indicators allow us to set structural change targets as well as to say whether the current pattern of growth is going to be sufficient to meet those targets.
Links
CSE Working Paper Series
Where Do They Come From, Where Do They Go Labour Market Transitions in India
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
- Rahul Menon
- Paaritosh Nath
Abstract
Using two rounds of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) covering the periods 2017 – 18 and 2018 – 19, we construct a panel of urban Indian individuals aged 15 to 65, and analyse the dynamics of their participation – or non-participation – in the labour force. We construct transition probabilities to study the movement of individuals through three distinct statuses — employment, unemployment and non-participation – at the aggregate level and for different demographic groups. We find evidence of considerable movements from the labour force to non-participation; there exists a significant discouraged worker effect as well as a pronounced movement from employment outside the labour force, specifically for women. A majority of those unemployed in the beginning of the year remain so at the end of the year, indicating the presence of long-term unemployment. The reduction in unemployment rates from 2017 – 18 to 2018 – 19 hides significant weaknesses in Indian urban labour markets. This study represents an original contribution to the field of Indian labour economics, given the paucity of large-scale studies of the dynamics of Indian labour.
Authors:
- Rahul Menon
- Paaritosh Nath
Links
CSE Working Paper Series
Inequalities in the Gendered Labour Market- What can be Done
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Globally, research has shown that, there is a high correlation between the level of per capita income and the rate of female labour force participation. At the same time the agency and autonomy of women in a country improve with the level of female labour force participation.
Authors:
- Santosh Mehrotra
Links