SOIL Report 2011 - ACCESS Development Services

Livelihoods of the Poor 27If persons with usual principal statusactivity status codes 92 and 93, and engagedin various UNSNA activities, but notincluded in the category of subsidiary statusworkers were included in the workforce, thetotal workforce in the country in 2004–05would increase to 554.99 million 9 and theshare of women in the workforce wouldincrease to 44.2 per cent.2.2.4. WagesEmployment data in conjunction with wagesearned add substantially to the picture oflivelihoods. First, let us look at the long-termtrends. Although real wages grew between1993–94 and 2004–05, the rate of growthwas lower than in the previous decade.Real-wage growth was slower for most workersbetween 2000–04 and showed a declinefor unskilled workers. Increasing wage disparityhas been another conspicuous featureof employment in India since the period ofliberalization. From the 1990s till 2005,at least, wage increases which have takenplace have benefitted the wage earners inthe top two deciles and the bottom decilethe most (see Figure 2.10 [World Bank 2010,p. 20, Figure 1.1]). For example, in the1990s, while real-wage growth for personsamong managerial and executive rank was10 per cent per annum, it was only 3 percent for the workers in the middle 40 percent group.Figure 2.10: Average real daily wages and wage growthSource: World Bank (2010, p. 37).definition of economic activity. In addition, there areactivities like tutoring one’s own or others’ children freeof charge and bringing water from outside householdpremises which form part of the extended UNSNAbut are generally not regarded as economic activitiesin most countries including India.9This number would also include men engaged inthese activities and not included in NSSO.