Abstract
Decent work for poverty reduction and overall well-being has long been recognised by International Labour Organisation (ILO). However, ensuring it still remains a challenge in several countries across the globe. Treating regular employment as a form of decent work may be a misconception as a large number of regular salaried employment opportunities are devoid of any tenurial and social security benefits to workers, making them vulnerable, which is a crucial indicator of ILO’s notion of decent employment. Based on unit record data of large rounds of National Sample Survey on Employment and Unemployment, this paper disaggregates regular employment across public, private and informal enterprises and finds unequal access to quality employment opportunities to various socio-religious groups. It attempts to understand determinants of access to regular wage employment opportunities with a focus on quality jobs. Finally, the paper suggests measures to improve the availability and access to quality jobs to workers and promote inclusiveness in such job opportunities with a special focus on marginalised social groups in India.
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Source: Average daily wage earnings are calculated from NSSO unit level data on Employment and Unemployment, 2011–12
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Professors Sukhadeo Thorat, Kaushik Basu, Pulin B Nayak, S. Madheswaran, Ajit Ghose, and participants of Panel Discussion on "Group Inequality, Identity and Inclusion in India" during 98th Annual Conference of Indian Economic Association in Hyderabad, 29 December 2015 for their valuable comments. The usual disclaimers apply.
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Mamgain, R.P., Tiwari, S. Regular Salaried Employment Opportunities in India: Nature, Access and Inclusiveness. Ind. J. Labour Econ. 60, 415–436 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-018-0101-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-018-0101-z