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Is growth improving employment quality in India? Evidence of widening subnational inequality

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  • Anamika Moktan

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges faced by India today is to generate quality employment. Even in areas of rapid per capita income growth, typified by the Gujarat model of neoliberal state-sponsored technological development, there is a substantial and increasing decent work deficit. Across India more generally, the decent work deficit is, in fact, growing along several dimensions, leading to ‘growth without development’ or ‘non-inclusive growth’. This article analyses quality of employment in India across subnational spaces – among states and between rural and urban locations – using three International Labour Organisation decent work dimensions: ‘employment opportunity’, ‘social security benefits’ and ‘social dialogue’. The analysis is based on published government data, for the period 1993–1994 to 2011–2012 – the period covered by the liberalisation experiment. The conclusion is that economic growth has not contributed significantly to employment quality. Although employment opportunity is significantly higher in the developed states, coverage of social security benefits and scope for social dialogue among regular salaried/wage workers are significantly less in these areas than in underdeveloped regions. Indeed, employment opportunity is significantly higher in rural areas, and the condition of workers in urban areas is not significantly better than in rural locations. Furthermore, over time, the difference in quality of employment across subnational spaces has either increased or remained stagnant. JEL Codes: J00, J81, J21, 018.

Suggested Citation

  • Anamika Moktan, 2019. "Is growth improving employment quality in India? Evidence of widening subnational inequality," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(2), pages 285-306, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:30:y:2019:i:2:p:285-306
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304619845216
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:ilo:ilowps:402835 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Robert Pollin & James Heintz, 2003. "Informalization, Economic Growth and the Challenge of Creating Viable Labor Standards in Developing Countries," Working Papers wp60, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    3. Vinoj Abraham, 2008. "Employment growth in rural India: Distress driven?," Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum Working Papers 404, Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum, India.
    4. K. P. Kannan, 2017. "India’s labour question is also a social question: inequalizing growth and increasing social equality under neoliberal economic regimes," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 263-282, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    quality of employment; decent work; employment opportunity; social welfare; social security; social dialogue; rural-urban divide; jobless growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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