Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnT, woRk, and hEalTh inEqualiTiEs - a global perspective
among this younger age group. The same study shows that in India, as
many as 6 - 8 per cent of young rural males and 12 - 14 per cent of urban
males are reported to be openly unemployed, and the situation becomes
more alarming among the age group of 15 - 19 years (20 and 30 per cent
unemployment rate among urban men and women respectively) (nsso).
The rate of growth of the service sector has gained considerable
momentum during the period of globalisation. The Indian economy
has grown at an annual average rate of well over 6 per cent during
the post-reform period (1993-94 to 2004-05), as compared to around
5 per cent during the pre-reform period (1983-84 to 1993-94).
another notable feature of the current growth phase is the sharp
increases registered in the rate of savings and investments in the
economy; gross domestic savings rising from around 23 per cent
during the early 1990s to 32 per cent by 2005-06; and gross domestic
capital formation increasing from 24 per cent in the early 1990s to
34 per cent by 2005-06 (goI, 2006). The post-economic reform
period has also witnessed a massive increase in India's foreign
exchange reserves - from a mere us$5 billion in 1990-91 to us$167
billion by 2006-07 (goI, 2007). The phenomenal successes on the
macroeconomic front have not yielded the expected labour market
and employment outcomes. In fact, there is a disconnect between
growth and employment in general. This had led to a debate on
jobless growth, especially in the organised sector of the economy.
The decline in organised sector employment seems to be primarily
due to the rapid decline in public sector employment. (goI, 2007)
The disconnect between growth and employment is also widened
by the poor quality of employment opportunities. Broadly, the
working population can be categorised into three main components:
self-employed, regular and casual. self-employed is defined as the
persons who operate their own farm or non-farm enterprises or are
engaged independently in a profession or trade on own-account or
with one or a few partners. The essential feature of the selfemployed
is that they have autonomy (i.e., how, where and when to
produce) and economic independence (i.e., market, scale of
operation and money) for carrying out their operation. regular
salaried/wage employees are the persons who work in others' farm
or non- farm enterprises (household and non- household) and, in
return, receive a salary or wages on a regular basis (i.e. not on the
basis of daily or periodic renewal of the work contract). This
category includes not only persons getting time wage but also
persons receiving piece wage or salary and paid apprentices, both
full- and part-time. Casual wage labourers are the persons who are
casually engaged in others' farm or non-farm enterprises
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