SOIL Report 2011 - ACCESS Development Services

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Livelihoods of the Poor 33home-based workers. Even in industries inwhich women work in significant numbers,less than 10 per cent are in the formal sectorof that industry. Two of the three industrieswith the fastest growth rates for womenworkers—private households and wearingapparel—are ghettoes of women labour inthe informal economy. More than threequarters (78.2 per cent) work in the leastproductive sectors of the economy, andonly a few work in modern industries withsignificantly high productivity; their numbersthere are too low to make a difference(Raveendran 2010).In sum, paid women workers in the economyget low pay, work in low productivitysectors, suffer poor working conditions,have little job security or social protection,and have no potential for improvement inskills or incomes. Little wonder then thatsome women workers have moved into sexworkto improve incomes. See Box 2.3.2.3.2. Youth 17 participationIndian economy is expected to benefit fromthe ‘demographic dividend’—the increasedproportion of young people in the workingage population. The share of youth populationincreased from 16.7 per cent in 1961Box 2.3: Entry in sex work: ‘Kaam se pet nahin bharta’ 15A pan-India survey of sex workers 16 with asample of 3,000 female and 1,355 male andtrans-persons in sex work drawn from 14states and one union territory was conductedover a period of two years (2009 and 2010).Their findings show that more than half ofthose surveyed had ‘experience of alternativework compared with those with experienceof sex work alone; 1,488 females had workedin other labour markets before entering sexwork, while 1,158 females entered sex workdirectly’.For many females, sex work was not theirfirst category of paid work. Even ‘for femaleswho started engaging in sex work in their midto lateteens, it emerged as an activity muchlater in their working life’. In the sample, thelargest category of prior work was of domesticworkers, followed by daily wage earners andthose in petty services in formal/informalestablishments.Young girls and women have left theirjobs in the informal markets for a varietyof economic reasons including ‘low pay,insufficient salary, no profit in business, noregular work, seasonal work, not gettingmoney even after work, could not run homewith that income—“is kaam se pet nahinbharta”’. The ways in which the economicreasons reinforce each other in the processof decision-making for leaving informal workand entering into sex work are as follows:• Working conditions: Hard physical workand low pay, hard work from morning toevening, had to spend a lot of time earningmoney as in the case of bidi/agarbattirolling,had to travel long distances as inthe case of wood-cutting or water-fetching,poor income plus not good for health,less rate for crafts combined with eye andbody strain in making them.• Personal or family-based reasons: Poorincome combined with parents not sendingto work after puberty, father/husbandtaking away all the money.• Migration: Shifted to dancing in UttarPradesh and Bihar for more money,migrated along with parents/husband insearch of better livelihoods.• Harassment: Poor income coupled withphysical/sexual abuse, was asked to makesex for keeping my job.15Poor income in informal sector drives majorityof sex workers into flesh trade: Survey. Available athttp://infochangeindia.org/livelihoods/books-reports/poor-income-in-informal-sector-drives-majority-ofsex-workers-into-flesh-trade-survey.html16The survey was conducted by Rohini Sahniand V. Kalyan Shankar with the assistance of severalorganizations.17The age group included in the category of youthis between 15 and 24 years of age.
34 State of India’s Livelihoods Report 2011to 20 per cent in 2001, and to 20.5 per centin 2007–08. 18 Though, for the dividend toaccrue, the youth have to seek work andfind employment. Jobs have to be generatedcommensurate to the pace of entry of young(and old) people in the labour market. Ifnot, then, the ‘demographic dividend’ mayturn into a ‘demographic nightmare’, as theunemployed young become a social andeconomic burden on the household andthe country.Let us first look at the patterns of youthemployment and unemployment in India. 19A little more than half of the youth workersin 2007–08 were employed in the agriculturesector (54.4 per cent). The other sectorswhich employ youth in a significant proportionwere manufacturing (15 per cent),wholesale (10.8 per cent), construction(7.2 per cent) and community services(5.1 per cent). The share of computerrelatedservices, a major component of thehighly publicized information technology(IT) sector brimming with youth, to totalemployment is less than half a per cent(0.18) and the percentage of young workersin it is almost half of those in the 25 to34 age group.Urban and rural youth and male andfemale youth employment patterns showsignificant differences on several fronts.Rural youth in 2007–08, were employed infar greater proportion (38.6 per cent versus21 per cent urban youth) as casual labour,with the least proportion in regular salariedwork (7.6 per cent versus 43.5 per cent urbanyouth). More than half the rural youth wereself-employed (53.8 per cent versus 35.5urban youth).When we examine unemployment patternswe find that youth have the highestunemployment rate (usual status measure)and in this demographic the age cohort 20to 24 years has a higher unemploymentlevel (see Figure 2.14) (Mitra 2008).The work force participation rate (WFPR)and the LFPR declined for the below 30 agegroup over the 1983 to 2007–08 period.This can be seen in rural and urban areasas well as among males and females (ibid.).In 2004–05, a total of 107.3 million youthwere in the workforce and of these 8.6 millionwere unemployed. Disturbingly, thisis about 8 per cent of the youth workforceand 64.1 per cent of the total unemployedFigure 2.14: Unemployment rate in India by age group, 1983 to 2007–08Source: Mahendra and Venkatnarayana (2011, p. 9).Note: Usual status.18The entire discussion draws heavily from Dev andVenkatnarayana (2011). It covers the period from 1983to 2004–05 unless mentioned otherwise.19Ibid., pp. 15–16, Table 4.4.
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State of India’s Livelihoods Repo
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State of India’s Livelihoods Repo
Page 6 and 7: ContentsList of TablesList of Figur
Page 8 and 9: List of Tables1.1 Growth rate of Gr
Page 10 and 11: List of Figures1.1 Pattern of GNP a
Page 12 and 13: List of Boxes1.1 India a country of
Page 14 and 15: List of Abbreviations3PLADBAEPSAICT
Page 16 and 17: List of AbbreviationsxvMKSSMoEFMoRD
Page 18 and 19: PrefaceACCESS has been bringing out
Page 20 and 21: Prefacexixbring out yet another vol
Page 22 and 23: AcknowledgementsA lot of work, ener
Page 24 and 25: State of India’sLivelihoods 2011:
Page 26 and 27: State of India’s Livelihoods 2011
Page 40 and 41: Livelihoods of the PoorIt is now co
Page 42 and 43: Livelihoods of the Poor 19of employ
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Page 48 and 49: Livelihoods of the Poor 25Figure 2.
Page 50 and 51: Livelihoods of the Poor 27If person
Page 54 and 55: Livelihoods of the Poor 31Table 2.3
Page 58 and 59: Livelihoods of the Poor 35(13.4 mil
Page 60 and 61: Livelihoods of the Poor 37on their
Page 62 and 63: Livelihoods of the Poor 39Early exp
Page 64 and 65: Livelihoods of the Poor 41(Chintan
Page 66 and 67: Livelihoods of the Poor 43A study b
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Page 76 and 77: Livelihoods of the Poor 53make an i
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Page 80 and 81: Reflections onLivelihoods Policies3
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Reflections on Livelihoods Policies
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Reflections on Livelihoods Policies
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State as the LargestLivelihoods Pro
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Private Industry andServices—What
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Potential andPossibilities6.1. Intr
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Potential and Possibilities 149Saxe
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About the Editorsand ContributorsTh
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