Human Development in India - NCAER

42 human development in indiaPoor states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh,and Orissa have the lowest overall days employed by men(about 190–5 days; see Table A.4.2b); wealthier Punjab,Haryana, Delhi, and Maharashtra have the highest numberof days employed (about 260–300 days). The state differencesfor women are also striking, ranging from eighty to eighty sixdays in Bihar and Jharkhand, to 196 in Maharashtra, and204 in Delhi. These large differences in days worked are atleast partly responsible for the many differences in well-beingacross the states. Some of these state differences are associatedwith greater urbanization, but most are based on theavailability of work in rural areas. On the whole, differencesin rural employment, across state boundaries, are larger thanthose in urban employment. 3 On an average, employed menin rural Maharashtra work about 235 days per year, comparedwith only 172 days in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, largedifferences in days worked are found for rural women.The inability to gain year-round work is one of themost important markers of economic vulnerability. Jobsthat provide year-round work increase incomes by reducingunderemployment. Year-round work is usually associatedwith salaried employment at monthly wages, non-farm workin rural areas in sectors such as construction, and increasedavailability of agricultural work due to multiple croppingseasons in a year.TYPES OF EMPLOYMENTThe preceding sections suggest a need to look beyond thesimple availability of work to explore the sectors of employment,since this determines the level of underemployment aswell as income. In this section, work activities are classifiedinto six categories grouped into farm and non-farm work(see Figure 4.2). Each individual can be employed in morethan one of these six types of work. Indeed, this sectionfocuses on who has multiple types of employment.This figure highlights the differences between men andwomen, and between urban and rural areas. When employed,rural women are likely to work in farm related activities.Rural men also have access to some non-farm work, suchas non-farm casual labour (24 per cent), salaried work (13per cent), and business (12 per cent). More urban men engagein salaried work and business than do rural men, althoughnon-agricultural wage work as daily labourers remains importantfor both. Interestingly, even among employed womenFigure 4.2Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.Type of Employment for Working Men and Women3The coefficient of variation, which reflects the amount of variation in days worked across states, is twelve for rural and seven for urban maleemployment.