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A Pluralist Account of Labour Participation in India

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  • Wendy Olsen
  • University of Manchester
  • Smita Mehta
  • Cambridge University

Abstract

Labour force participation in India is found to respond to a plurality of causal mechanisms. Employment and unpaid labour are both measured using the 1999/2000 Indian National Sample Survey. Men`s labour-force participation stood at 85% and women`s at 35%. The overall rate of labour force participation among women had fallen since 1989. Regression reveals a U curve of female employment by education levels. Many women at the bottom of the U are doing extra-domestic work, so a detailed measurement of both domestic work and other unpaid work is provided. Women in the Muslim cultural group do more extra-domestic work (and are more likely to be `inactive`) than women in other cultural groups. Economic poverty causes employment to be more likely. We use retroduction to interpret the regressions of labour force participation. We provide a number of reasons which could explain both the work patterns and the housewifisation pattern.

Suggested Citation

  • Wendy Olsen & University of Manchester & Smita Mehta & Cambridge University, 2006. "A Pluralist Account of Labour Participation in India," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-042, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:gprg-wps-042
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wendy Olsen, 2006. "Pluralism, poverty and sharecropping: Cultivating open-mindedness in development studies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1130-1157.
    2. Wendy Olsen & University of Manchester, 2005. "Pluralism, Poverty and Sharecropping: Cultivating Open-Mindedness in Development Studies," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-008, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Parvati Raghuram, 2001. "Caste and Gender in the Organisation of Paid Domestic Work in India," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 607-617, September.
    4. Ben Rogaly, 1997. "Embedded markets: Hired labour arrangements in west Bengal agriculture," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 209-223.
    5. Folbre, Nancy, 1986. "Cleaning house : New perspectives on Households and Economic Development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 5-40, June.
    6. Emmanuel Skoufias, 1993. "Seasonal Labor Utilization in Agriculture: Theory and Evidence from Agrarian Households in India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(1), pages 20-32.
    7. Bina Agarwal, 1997. "''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-51.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sunny Jose, 2009. "Women, Paid Work and Empowerment in India: A Review of Evidence and Issues," Working Papers id:2064, eSocialSciences.
    2. Prathi Seneviratne, 2017. "Female Labour Force Participation and Economic Development in Labour Abundant Countries: Evidence from Sri Lanka," Working Papers 2017-02, Carleton College, Department of Economics.
    3. Sanghamitra Kanjilal-Bhaduri & Francesco Pastore, 2018. "Returns to Education and Female Participation Nexus: Evidence from India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(3), pages 515-536, September.
    4. Sonali Chakraborty, 2019. "Contribution of the Unpaid Family Labour in the Handloom Sector of Textile Industry in West Bengal," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(4), pages 693-713, December.
    5. Kanjilal-Bhaduri, Sanghamitra & Pastore, Francesco, 2018. "Returns to Education and Female Work Force Participation Nexus: Evidence from India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 162, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Wendy Olsen & University of Manchester, 2006. "Pluralist Methodology for Development Economics: The Example of Moral Economy of Indian Labour Markets," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-053, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Amrita Datta & Tanuka Endow & Balwant Singh Mehta, 2020. "Education, Caste and Women’s Work in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 387-406, June.
    8. Chaudhary, Ruchika. & Verick, Sher., 2014. "Female labour force participation in India and beyond," ILO Working Papers 994867893402676, International Labour Organization.
    9. Bilal Nabeel Falah & Marcelo Bérgolo & Arwa Abu Hashhash & Mohammad Hattawy & Iman Saadeh, 2019. "The Effect of Labor-Demand Shocks on Women’s Participation in the Labor Force: Evidence from Palestine," Working Papers PMMA 2019-08, PEP-PMMA.
    10. Prathi Seneviratne, 2017. "Explaining Changes in Sri Lanka’s Wage Distribution, 1992-2014: A Quantile Regression Analysis," Working Papers 2017-01, Carleton College, Department of Economics.
    11. Kelly, Orla & Krishna, Aditi & Bhabha, Jacqueline, 2016. "Private schooling and gender justice: An empirical snapshot from Rajasthan, India's largest state," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 175-187.
    12. repec:ilo:ilowps:486789 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Seneviratne, Prathi, 2020. "Gender wage inequality during Sri Lanka’s post-reform growth: A distributional analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. Ashwini Deshpande & Naila Kabeer, 2021. "Norms that matter: Exploring the distribution of women's work between income generation, expenditure-saving, and unpaid domestic responsibilities in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-130, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Ashwini Deshpande, 2020. "(In)Visibility, Care and Cultural Barriers: The Size and Shape of Women’s Work in India," Working Papers id:13084, eSocialSciences.
    16. Neff, Daniel & Sen, Kunal & Kling, Veronika, 2012. "The Puzzling Decline in Rural Women's Labor Force Participation in India: A Reexamination," GIGA Working Papers 196, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    17. Arup MITRA & Sabyasachi TRIPATHI, 2024. "Do More Women Find Employment As The Urban Population Grows?," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(2), pages 88-117, May.
    18. Chatterjee,Urmila & Murgai,Rinku & Rama,Martin G., 2015. "Job opportunities along the rural-urban gradation and female labor force participation in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7412, The World Bank.

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