Nature of employment and outcomes for urban labor: Evidence from the latest labor force surveys in India

cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centreen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
cg.coverage.countryIndia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2IN
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Asia
cg.coverage.regionAsia
cg.creator.identifierDevesh Roy: 0000-0003-4795-7240
cg.creator.identifierSunil Saroj: 0000-0001-5820-2092
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s41775-022-00131-2en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - South Asia Region
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.issn0019-4670en
cg.issue1en
cg.journalIndian Economic Reviewen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.volume57en
dc.contributor.authorRoy, Deveshen
dc.contributor.authorSaroj, Sunilen
dc.contributor.authorPradhan, Mamataen
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-12T13:37:50Zen
dc.date.available2024-04-12T13:37:50Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/141395
dc.titleNature of employment and outcomes for urban labor: Evidence from the latest labor force surveys in Indiaen
dcterms.abstractGiven its size and level of income, India faces unique challenges in the labor market. In the urban labor force of nearly 100 million, half of the workers engage in regular wage/salaried employment including in short-term contracts, yet a large number are either self-employed or work as casual labor. This vast pool of employees in the urban sector exists without job contract (92%), social security (90%) or paid leave (89%) barely earning subsistence wages, many close to the poverty threshold. This paper looks at the types of employment (TOE) for urban workforce and its effects on worker outcomes (earnings, hours worked, job loss). The assessment of the effects of TOE remains mostly instinctive without rigorous empirical research. Using latest three rounds of nationally representative Periodic Labor Force Surveys (PLFS), we assess the outcomes for urban workers based on TOE. We estimate the probability of being poor based on TOE and occupation where urban casual labor is associated with 7 percentage points higher likelihood of being poor and nearly 17% lower earnings. We uniquely assess the extent of job turnovers for urban workers and falling into unemployment at high frequency based on TOE. Analysis of urban panel after accounting for unobserved worker level factors captures the extent of fall in income due to job switching and loss of employment. Results indicate significant potential for poverty if worker is not socially protected, engaged in distress entrepreneurship or as casual labor.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationRoy, Devesh; Saroj, Sunil; and Pradhan, Mamata. 2022. Nature of employment and outcomes for urban labor: Evidence from the latest labor force surveys in India. Indian Economic Review 57: 165-221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41775-022-00131-2en
dcterms.extentpp. 165-221en
dcterms.issued2022-06-20
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserved
dcterms.publisherSpringer Nature Limiteden
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.asieco.2022.101485en
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll5/id/8279en
dcterms.subjectemploymenten
dcterms.subjecturban areasen
dcterms.subjectenterprisesen
dcterms.subjectlabouren
dcterms.subjectcasual labouren
dcterms.subjectworkforceen
dcterms.subjectpovertyen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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