Vulnerable Employment of Women in Urban North-East India

India is a developing country with a high percentage of workers in vulnerable forms of employment. It is often characterized by precarious work conditions such as informal work arrangements, unstable income sources, and lack of social security, to name a few. Vulnerable employment undoubtedly affects workers of both genders; nonetheless, women face struggles that may be differentiated from the opposite gender. We put a special focus on women and argue that besides adverse work conditions, a multitude of other factors converge to compel them to remain engaged in vulnerable employment. To this end, the North-East Region is selected as our study area; the paucity of well-documented research in this region propels the need for further investigation. By offering insights into the urban areas of each state within the region, this paper strives to prevent the inclination of viewing the entire North-East as a homogeneous entity. To facilitate quantitative analysis, a multidimensional Employment Vulnerability Index for working women in the age group of 15–64 years is constructed, using data from Periodic Labour Force Survey (July 2021–June 2022). The index follows the Alkire-Foster methodology to offer a comprehensive assessment of the varying levels of employment vulnerability across all states in North-East India. The analysis results from the index show Mizoram being the most vulnerable state, while Sikkim is the least in terms of employment. Furthermore, findings also suggest that age doesn’t have a significant influence on employment vulnerability. However, possessing higher levels of education and being engaged in regular wage employment is associated with decreased employment vulnerability. Our study contends that for policies to have a transformative impact, it is essential to comprehend the multi-faceted nature of employment and the associated vulnerabilities.