ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF EMPLOYMENT IN UNORGANIZED SECTORS
90.33
232.79
2
2.1
2.2
Non-agriculture
Rural
Urban
40.35
45.13
11.68
10.36
52.03
55.49
Total
85.48
22.04
107.52
3
3.1
3.2
All India
Rural
Urban
177.86
50.08
98.77
13.60
276.63
63.68
Total
227.94
112.37
340.31
The total employment in the economy as estimated from the same data sets was 396.77 Million. The break-up of total employment by sector and size is given in Table 2.
Table –2: Estimated Total Employment in the Economy
Sector
Estimated Number of Workers (Million)
Male
Female
Total
Rural
196.74
104.02
300.76
Urban
77.05
18.96
96.01
Total
273.79
122.98
396.77
Table-3: Percentage share of Informal Sector Workers by Sector and Sex
Sector
Percentage Share (Million)
Male
Female
Total
Rural
90.40
94.96
91.98
Urban
65.00
71.73
66.33
Total
83.26
91.38
85.77
The percentage share of informal sector workers amongst various categories of total workers is given in Table-3.
Conclusion:
In unorganized sector corresponding proportions in urban India were 44 per cent for males and 45 per cent for females. One needs to examine to what extent institutional finance has a role to play in the lives of those self-employed. In the rural areas, 67 per cent of usually employed males and 84 per cent of usually employed females were engaged in the agricultural sector. On the basis of current daily status (unemployed on an average in the reference week), during the reference period, unemployment rate for males increased from 5.6 per cent to 9.0 per cent in rural areas, and from 6.7 per cent to 8.1 per cent in urban areas.
Unemployment rate for females increased from 5.6 per cent in 1993-94 to 9.3 per cent in 2004 in rural areas. The gender differential in the worker population ratio (WPR) was distinct: 55 per cent for males and 33 per cent for females in the rural areas, and 55 per cent for males and 17 per cent for females in the urban areas.
The rate of growth of employment declined sharply from 2.04% per year in the period 1983-94 to only 0.98% per year in the period 19994 to 2000. This is while the labour force increases roughly by 2.5% every year. The size of the unorganised sector is relatively large and will continue to be so in the years to come in view of the limited employment opportunities in the organised sector as also due to the outsourcing of a number of occupations/activities from the organised sector. The results of the Survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), carried out in 1999-2000, revealed that out of a total workforce of 397 million, only 28 million (seven per cent) workers are employed in the organised sector and the remaining 93 per cent are employed in the unorganised sector. The informal sector thus provides income-earning opportunity to a larger work force and a larger number of workers are getting their livelihood from the informal sector. The unorganized sector, therefore, has been playing a vital role in providing employment in the economy.
References:
Commission of European Communities, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations and World Bank (1993): System of National Accounts 1993 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2002): Measuring the Non-Observed Economy – A Handbook Central Statistical Organization, India (1998): National Industrial Classification Central Statistical Organization, India (2004): Report of the Working Group on Workforce Estimation for Compilation of National Accounts Statistics with base Year 1999-2000 Central Statistical Organization, India (2006): Brochure on New Series of National Accounts Statistics, base year 1999-2000. Central Statistical Organization, India (2007): National Accounts Statistics: Sources and Methods. Bhalla, Shiela (2003): ‘The Restructuring of the Unorganised Sector in India’, Report on a Project Funded