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Introduction: Hearing is crucial for a child's development, influencing speech, cognition, and emotional well-being. Early detection of hearing disorders is vital, yet India faces challenges in implementing effective newborn hearing screening (NBHS) programs. This research explores the perspectives of audiologists, focusing on the major and minor challenges faced and current protocols followed across diverse setups in India. Method: A two-phase study involved questionnaire development and data collection from 116 audiologists nationwide. The survey addressed demographics, current practices, challenges faced, and opinions on NBHS improvements. Results: Findings revealed disparities in screening protocols, with 42 variations reported. Challenges included ambient noise control, communication gaps, and lack of interdisciplinary support. Audiologists emphasized the need for sensitizing healthcare professionals, free screening, and increased manpower to enhance NBHS efficacy. Conclusion: The study aligns with global challenges in NBHS program implementation. Rural areas face a shortage of audiologists, emphasizing the necessity to train community health workers. The varied screening protocols and delays in screening timeframe underscore the need for standardized guidelines and increased funding. Audiologists play a pivotal role in NBHS success. To overcome challenges, standardizing protocols, sensitizing healthcare professionals, and promoting community-based screening are crucial. The study emphasizes proactive measures among audiologists, continual research, and collaboration to enhance evidence-based practices and policy improvements in newborn hearing screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines employee volunteerism's effect in preventing workforce reduction and reducing product quality issues in India. The study used the social identity theory to explore the relationship between employee volunteerism and workforce reduction and product quality issues. A sample size of 800 firm-year observations between 2010 and 2019 was utilised. Descriptive analysis, probit regression and panel probit regression were employed for data interpretation. The study shows that employee volunteerism does not prevent but instead increases workforce reduction of listed firms in an emerging economy. The research also shows that employee volunteerism is insignificant in reducing product quality issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender inequality is pervasive in many societies, creating disparities between genders in terms of what they can accomplish and their access to opportunities. Achieving sustainable development necessitates providing equal chances to all, regardless of gender. Despite the remarkable economic progress India has attained, gender inequality is a major concern. Against this backdrop, the current study endeavours to comprehend gender inequality and analyse the extent of gender gap in India using secondary data. India's performance in major gender-related indices paints a stark picture of gender inequality in the country. The study also finds that there exists gender gap in India concerning health, education, political representation and economic participation. Further, the study finds that female labour force participation has steadily declined over the years, raising concerns over the inclusiveness of India's economic growth. The findings of the study provide valuable insights to policymakers to formulate effective policies that promote gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using household-level data from Employment–Unemployment Survey (EUS) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) rounds for India between 2012 and 2019, our paper suggests that better economic conditions of households continued to be associated with higher instances of exit from the labour market for both men and women during the last decade, while, this effect was stronger for women. Enrolment in higher education during the survey rounds was associated with higher instances of exit for women from households with better economic conditions, a result not found to be significant for men. In the presence of employment benefits, the likelihood was reduced significantly for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and multiple rounds of the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the paper summarises evidence on changes in the employment–unemployment scenario since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related curbs on economic activity since April 2020. The paper presents evidence on how the pandemic affected pre-existing gender, caste gaps and patterns of employment by sector of production (agricultural, manufacturing, and services). The paper situates these shifts in a longer arc, comparing them to the pre-COVID employment scenario, to understand the long-term impact of the pandemic on the Indian labour market. The data show that the pandemic reinforced and deepened many of the pre-existing schisms. As economic activity is recovering, employment is increasing, but is yet to return to the pre-pandemic levels. The employment challenge is bigger than just achieving the pre-pandemic levels: there is an urgent need to boost job creation and rectify pre-pandemic deep-rooted inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most speedy and substantial social shifts in human history has been the evolution of gender relations since the turn of the 20th century. Even though female health, literacy and women participation in workforce have significantly improved, the status of women in Indian society is not very satisfactory leading to gender disparities. It is in this background that this paper attempts to analyse the role of education, labour market and health in reducing gender disparities across the states over the period of time. To analyse the impact of these variables, Gender Disparity Index (GDI) has been constructed utilising the data from Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and Sample Registration System (SRS) to measure gender disparities in 20 major states and union territories (UTs) of India. For the construction of GDI, we have used three dimensions, namely health, empowerment and labour market participation. The index is prepared to make a decadal comparative study for the years 2011–12 and 2020–21. The statistical results indicate that there is a significant difference in mean of the GDI scores for 2020–21 and 2011–12. The paper concludes with certain policy implications suggesting that there is a need to put more effort into creating infrastructure and cutting-edge policies to improve the health and education systems. The focus should also be to create more employment opportunities for females, helping them to raise their standard of living so as to enhance their contribution towards economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite much impetus on economic growth, educational expansion, health and infrastructural development, women participation in labour force market is not improving. Women participation in politics, leadership positions, national parliaments and local government, judiciary and police force is very essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The said target is clearly mentioned as SDG 5.5 which entails—"Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life". In India, percentage of female elected representatives in parliament rose from 9.0% in 1999 (13th Lok Sabha general elections) to 14.4% in 2019 (17th Lok Sabha general elections) as per the statistical reports published by the Election Commission of India. Thus, the paper tries to study the relationship between women in parliament (MP) and female labour force participation rates (FLPR) using panel data across Indian states for the period 1999 to 2019. The objective of the paper is to empirically examine the relationship between female (elected) political representation and FLPR, using fixed effect panel data model across 15 Indian states excluding Union Territories (UTs), North-Eastern States (NEs), Delhi, Goa, and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The panel data is created by taking data of female elected candidates of different states from the statistical reports of general elections published by Election Commission of India and that of FLPR is extracted from various rounds of National Statistical Office (NSO) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) reports, respectively. The empirical results suggest that higher political representation of women is associated with favourable female labour outcomes. Our result implies that Female Political Representation (FPR) has a positive and significant effect on FLPR under fixed effect model. However, the random effect model suggests net state domestic product (NSDP) per capita has a negative and significant effect on FLPR, while, Fixed effect model suggests that female literacy rate has a negative and significant effect on FLPR which are consistent with the established literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the pace and pattern of employment in India during the last four decades using the Employment-Unemployment Survey (EUS) (1983 to 2011–12) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) (2017–18 to 2020–21). The estimates reflect that, notwithstanding the impressive economic growth, aided by demographic dividend, the economy has witnessed a low sustained employment generation. The present analysis reflects a notable increase in both output growth and employment between the years 1983 and 2004-05. However, subsequent to this period, there exists a distinct phase of economic development characterised by a lack of job creation from 2004–05 to 2017-18 and a rebound thereafter. The concerning divergence between Gross Value Added (GVA) growth and employment growth is reflected in the continued dominance of agriculture in terms of employment share even when its GVA share is dismal. Besides, the low employment elasticities of non-farm sectors including industry and services indicate the inability of the non-farm sector to absorb additional labour force and hence sluggish employment opportunities. The slow rate of employment growth during the period of high economic growth failed to bring down overall unemployment. Consequentially, the findings serve as a rebuttal to the claim of 'slow' structural transformation. Not only that the labour market is characterising by significant gender disparity, but there is also a growing level of unemployment for the highly educated youth than the less educated. Apparently, economic growth rather than creating more jobs has resulted in net labour displacement as can be seen from the disaggregated analysis of Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Work Force Participation Rate (WFPR), and unemployment rate. The discourse of falling and lower employment elasticities and strong GVA growth painting a discordant picture of the economy calls for an urgent policy redressal in expanding the human capacity to participate in the new economic and social opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the inter-regional intra-industry disparity within selected Indian manufacturing industries and industrial states. The study uses three measures—the Output-Capital Ratio, the Capital-Labor Ratio, and the Output-Labor Ratio—to critically evaluate the level of disparity in average efficiency of labor and capital, as well as capital intensity. Additionally, the paper compares the rate of disparity of per capita income between six major industrial states. The study finds that underutilization of capacity is driven by an unequal distribution of high-skilled labor supply and upgraded technologies. To address these disparities, the paper suggests that policymakers campaign for labor training and technology promotion schemes throughout all regions of India. By doing so, the study argues, the country can reduce regional inequality and improve economic outcomes for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Stereotypes have been a barrier to providing patients a diverse orthopaedic workforce. Our goal was to identify stereotypes and disparities among doctors and their patients regarding the attributes that should determine a competent orthopaedic surgeon. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive multicenter study was conducted in India. Tailored questionnaires were administered to patients and orthopaedic postgraduates to determine the attributes they believe patients prefer in their orthopaedic surgeon. Likert data and data on preferred sex of the surgeon were analyzed as categorical data sets using frequency statistics. Participants were asked to rank surgeon attributes and analysis was based on frequency of an item among top 5 surgeon attributes. Results: 304 patients and 91 orthopaedic postgraduates participated in the study. 70.4% and 73% of patients and 27.5% and 29.6% of postgraduates preferred an orthopaedic surgeon with greater physical strength as an outpatient consultant or operating surgeon respectively. 81% of patients had no preference of the sex of their doctor. 56% of postgraduates felt patients would prefer a male operating surgeon, none felt their patient would prefer female orthopaedic surgeon. 92.3% of the female postgraduates felt patients would prefer a male orthopaedic surgeon. Patients most often ranked years of experience, surgical outcomes, time spent with patients, reputation, and physical strength in their top 5 surgeon attributes and sex, religion, and community were given least importance. Conclusion: Diversity among the orthopaedic workforce is necessary to optimize patient care. It is our collective responsibility to educate our patients and trainees and redress the misconceptions and stereotypes that plague our profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian economy is currently passing through a critical phase of economic development as its structural transformation in employment has stalled, whilst both the youth unemployment rate and the number of youths "Not in Employment, Education, and Training (NEET)" have increased to an unprecedentedly high level. In the context in which the share of the youth population is continuing to rise despite the declining fertility rate to below the replacement rate, increased educated youth unemployment has caused an upsurge in the Discouraged Labour Force (DLF). This paper explores the trends, composition, and determinants of rising DLF in India using national level employment-unemployment surveys and macro-level panel data. Based on Multinomial logit and System GMM regression results, it is argued that policies aiming to enhance human capabilities through an improved base of technical education and the promotion of industry are necessary to enhance the growth of quality jobs in order to combat the problem of rising educated youth unemployment and DLF. Moreover, these measures could help in the process of harnessing the demographic dividend in India through an increased level of labour productivity in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing pace of globalisation and technological changes on the one hand and low access to general education in developing countries on the other, possession of knowledge and skill has become critically important. India positioned at the verge of transformation to become a knowledge-based economy, unfortunately has low-skilled less market-ready section of people, particularly women, for whom education in general stream still remains a panacea. Vocational training (VT) is an important vehicle of skill development, which can offer those women a second chance to gather skill and successfully participate in labour market. However, evidence suggests that in spite of direct government intervention, they often fail to benefit from skilling programmes. While the existing literature primarily focuses on why women who get VT still cannot get high-earning jobs unlike the men, this paper, based on NSSO Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2018–19 unit-level data, tries to shade light on the access to vocational training of women vis-à-vis men in India and explore whether gender works as an obstacle for accessing vocational training in India and an eastern state, namely West Bengal. Results find that women suffer from disproportionately low access to VT across all education groups. Access is particularly meagre for low general education, indicating that as hypothesised, VT cannot substitute the lack of general education for the women. Even if the women get access to VT, the options available to them are limited and gender-stereotyped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re-emerging joint families and declining female labour force participation rates (FLFPR) are the two paradoxical consequences of India's steady urbanisation over the past few decades. In this backdrop, our study is motivated to examine the causal link between intergenerational co-residence and married women's employment status in urban India. Exploiting housing affordability in the locality as an instrument for co-residence with in-laws, we find significant negative impact of such traditional but still relevant social institution on women's labour force participation. We identify access to pooled financial resources and lack of decision-making authority relating to work participation as the key drivers of this phenomenon. However, co-residence does not act as a barrier to women's work in families characterised by lower economic status. Public policies encouraging family nuclearisation are to accelerate the process of household transformation which in turn would promote women's work in urban India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes the literature in the following ways: (a) It establishes negative sole impact of urban outdoor air-pollution and its interaction-effect with growth, poverty, and urbanisation on female life-expectancy (FLE), hence on female labour force participation rate (FLFPR); proving the positive two-way relation between these two through estimating a simultaneous panel-model comprising equations of FLFPR and FLE, for Indian-states over the period 2017–2022. The significant impact of the interaction-effect shows partial-effect of a change in the concerned variable on FLE and on FLFPR depends on air-pollution. Thus, measures to raise growth, urbanisation or reduce poverty can improve FLE and FLFPR, provided air-pollution is mitigated. (b) Moreover, significant impact of interaction-effect of household-size and growth (Lnnsdp × HHsz) on FLFPR is supported, i.e., the impact of growth on FLFPR depends on household-size and vice-versa. A critical-level of Lnnsdp × HHsz exists; FLFPR increases/falls with Lnnsdp × HHsz according as actual Lnnsdp × HHsz is lesser/higher than critical-level. The higher sample-mean of Lnnsdp × HHsz than critical-value implies FLFPR falls with both growth and household-size, i.e. given household-size, income-effect dominates and women value leisure more. It adds the earlier inverted-U feminisation hypothesis for India investigating only sole-impact of growth on FLFPR. (c) Further, the relationship between interaction-effect of female education and household-size (Hedu × HHsz) on FLFPR is U-type, i.e., a critical level of Hedu × HHsz exists, FLFPR falls/rises with Hedu × HHsz according as actual Hedu × HHsz is lesser/higher than critical-level. The lower sample-mean of Hedu × HHsz than critical-value implies, FLFPR falls with education and household-size, i.e., female education does not necessarily imply higher FLFPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The statement discusses Jonathan Parry's recent monograph, Classes of Labour, and in particular his "labour aristocracy" thesis of the most privileged sections of India's workforces that had been widely accepted in the social sciences in the 1970s but that had later been discarded. It is argued that the ethnography of an industrial town in Central India he presents in the monograph convincingly demonstrates that the relative privileges of public-sector employment have fostered the bifurcation of the town's industrial workers into two major distinct classes with different life chances, different attitudes to caste, and with often antagonistic political interests. Classes of Labour also demonstrates that Giddens' concept of "class structuration" offers a suitable theoretical grounding for identifying the major fault lines and driving forces of class formation in his case study but also for a controlled comparison between case studies across India and beyond. This statement moreover argues that this approach conceives of class as an historical, dynamic object, and it asks whether the current crises of class reproduction in the times of jobless growth might provoke a major change in the structuration of classes in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review discusses Jonathan Parry's 2020 monograph Classes of Labour in the context of the author's career trajectory since the 1990s. The review critiques the conceptual framework with which the book understands class relations, and notes that the breadth of the study may be daunting for some readers. However, the review characterises the book as an artisanal masterpiece that shows an ethnographer working at the very peak of their abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several surveys of India's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) undertaken during 2020 and 2021 have revealed that these enterprises which account for about 90% or more of manufacturing employment were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, there are data to indicate that even the formal manufacturing enterprises in India were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, using Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, we estimate that manufacturing employment grew by about 5 per cent in 2020–21 and about 8 per cent in 2021–22, reversing the previous downward trend. However, these increases in manufacturing employment based on the usual principal and subsidiary status (UPSS) concept do not correctly measure the growth in labour input. According to our estimates, labour input in manufacturing fell by about 6 per cent in FY2021 (financial year 2020–21) and rose by about 13 per cent in FY2022. Labour productivity in manufacturing rose sharply in FY2021 and fell slightly in FY2022. Analysing data on wages, tenure of job contracts, and provision of social security to workers, we find that during the two years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the large increases in manufacturing employment were not accompanied by any significant lowering of real wages, nor with a deterioration in labour standards. Instead, the evidence points towards a rapid formalisation of informal industrial enterprises, significant increases in the real product wages of regular and casual workers, and an improvement in labour standards for hired workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies gross labour market flows and determinants of labour market transitions for urban Indian workers using a panel dataset constructed from Indian Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data for the period 2017–18 to 2019–20. Longitudinal studies based on the PLFS have been hampered by data problems that prevent a straightforward merging of the 2017–18 and 2018–19 data releases. In this paper, we propose and validate a matching procedure based on individual and household characteristics that can successfully link almost all records across these 2 years. We use the constructed dataset to document a number of stylised facts about gross worker flows and to estimate the effects of different individual characteristics and work histories on probabilities of job gain and loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the low representation of female orthopedic surgeons in India and how this gender gap can be addressed. The authors conducted a study to find possible causes for the low number of female orthopedic surgeons, by examining the perceptions of orthopedics as a specialty among undergraduate medical students.

Fluctuations in unemployment rate have been widely studied in developed countries. Lack of panel data, however, limited the scope of such studies in India until quarterly periodic labour force surveys (PLFS) were published in 2019. Here we use the novel quarterly PLFS of urban sector in India to study the gross flows using three states of labour market. We found most of the fluctuations in unemployment rates originates within the labour force. In upturn, employment margin contributes about 80% of the decline in unemployment, while in downturn it contributes about 98% of the rise in unemployment. Flows from employment to unemployment have stronger association with the fluctuations in unemployment rate than the flows from unemployment to employment. Higher female unemployment rates are mainly because of their lower chances to find job and higher chances to stay as unemployed. Contrary to widely held view, we found females are more likely to participate than males. Their higher probability to drop out of labour force and lower chances to find a job hold their labour force participation rate low. Youth face higher chances to lose jobs and their longer stay as unemployed than mature hold their unemployment rates higher. Difficulty in finding a job, higher chances of job loss, along with longer stay as unemployed keep unemployment rate higher among the better educated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female labour force participation (FLFP) in India has gone down from 42.74% in 2005 to 24.53% in 2019. This is the case when education levels have gone up and fertility rate has declined. Against this backdrop, this paper studies the low figures of female employment in India. It draws out the determinants of FLFPduring 2005 to 2019 using NSS EUS and PLFS data. With the use of a probit, shapley value decomposition and IV-probit method, the various supply side factors which aid or impede FLFP are brought out. Results from probit regression show that women's age, education levels, marital status, presence of children, household size, and social & income group of the household and occupation type are significant determinants of FLFP. Shapley value decomposition shows that age and education level of women together explain 37% of the variation in rural areas and 51% in urban areas in 2019. Education's contribution to FLFP is the highest in urban areas at 20% in 2019. State level heterogeneity, an indicator of labour demand, also explains about one-fourth of the total variation in FLFP. Further, regression with the use of IV-probit model, to counter the potential endogeneity of household monthly consumption expenditure, reveals presence of negative income effect in 2019. Being married, presence of children and staying in a large household reduces the probability of FLFP. Occupational structure of the household is also a significant factor. The probability of participation rises when a woman belongs to a regular salaried household vis-à-vis the self-employed. Education levels of secondary school and above are significant and positively associated with FLFP. There is also a caste pattern visible with higher probability of participation among the scheduled tribes (ST) and scheduled castes (SC) vis-à-vis other castes. Higher education has a stronger positive effect on FLFP in urban areas while household income, presence of children and being married have a stronger negative effect on rural FLFP. The variation by caste presents effect of social norms though its significance has reduced over the years. Inter-temporal analysis presents that the effect of children and household income levels has reduced over time; however, that has not translated to higher probability of FLFP. This is an indication of demand side issues in FLFP in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides estimates of returns to education by nature of employment by gender from 1993–94 to 2017–18 and also separates returns from vocational and general education in India. The paper addresses the sample selectivity issue arising from the endogenous choice of employment status in a Mincerian wage earnings equation using the multinomial-selection approach. The study found positive and incremental marginal returns with levels of general education accruing on self-employed workers, both male and female, albeit with a huge gender wage gap. The graduate level of education renders high returns for both male and female self-employed workers. On the other hand, vocational education and training (VET) is found to be beneficial only for self-employed men and not for self-employed women. Given the insignificant returns to VET for women, it is uncertain how women may benefit from the reforms in vocational education brought about through the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Unless there is a significant expansion in skilled jobs, no amount of policy reforms towards developing skills of labour force would fructify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation has accelerated the pace of development throughout the world. Big cities provide employment and livelihood for workers because of which workers have always migrated from rural areas to cities. However, in India, most of the migrant workers are absorbed in the low-paid and low-skilled jobs in the widespread informal sector. With the outbreak of COVID-19, lockdown was declared suddenly without any notice in India during the last week of March 2019 and most of the urban informal sector workers suddenly lost their jobs, and since they had no protection, they were pushed into poverty. Detailed analysis of such losses is of utmost importance so that perfectly appropriate remedial measures can be taken by the government. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report of 2019-20 has analysed the situation of labour market in India for four quarters from July 2019 to June 2020. Therefore, the last quarter of the data will give us the valuable information about the urban labour market during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic period. This study analyses the possible reasons behind decline in monthly earnings and labour market participation of urban people in India during the period of outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. during the period from April 2020 to June 2020, using the data of fourth quarter from each of the PLFSs of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 since they have identical seasonal conditions. We have used cross-tabulation method to find out employment and unemployment rates of people in urban areas according to gender and type of employment for the period, from July to June, for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. We have also tried to find the reasons behind the decline in income of workers during the first three months of the pandemic period, i.e. during the fourth quarter of 2019-20, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017-18 and that of 2018-19 using the Mincerian wage equation. Our empirical results have shown that urban workers in India have lost jobs and suffered from significant decline in income during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic period in almost all types of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic created a need for high-frequency employment and income data. Policy-makers and researchers of developing countries typically have not had access to such data. In India, a new private high-frequency panel dataset has recently emerged as the dataset of choice for analysis of the economic impact of COVID-19. This is the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) conducted by the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE). But the CPHS has also been criticised for being inadequately representative nationally by missing poor and vulnerable households in its sample. We examine the comparability of monthly labour income estimates for the pre-pandemic year (2018–19) for CPHS and the official Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). Across different methods and assumptions, as well as rural/urban locations, CPHS mean monthly labour earnings are anywhere between 5 percent and 50 percent higher than corresponding PLFS estimates. In addition to the sampling concerns raised in the literature, we point to differences in the way employment and income are captured in the two surveys as possible causes of these differences. While CPHS estimates are always higher, it should also be emphasised that the two surveys agree on some stylised facts regarding the Indian workforce. An individual earning ₹50,000 per month lies in the top 5 percent of the income distribution in India as per both surveys. Second, both PLFS and CPHS show that half the Indian workforce earns below the recommended National Minimum Wage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses labour market transitions from job to jobless or jobless to job by using Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of India in urban labour market by applying first-order Markov process in constructing transition matrices and panel logit regression model using personal level information from the PLFS in India for 2019–20. While education is assumed to be the most important factor influencing the process of transitions in the labour market, the circumstance variables like gender, caste and religion are expected to have significant effects on it in a country like India. The empirical results show a significant difference in labour market transitions between men and women. The movement of workers between job status was very low and the major part of the transition occurred in the form of job losses for each type of workers both among men and women and also among all working age group and young age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the secondary data taken from Population Census, and the Employment-Unemployment Surveys and Periodic Labour Force Survey of the National Sample Survey, it is found that Indian economy is passing through a critical phase of economic development in which it is likely to lose its demographic advantage. Because, in India while about 4.5 million people were leaving agriculture every year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic years, the non-farm sectors job was not growing adequately to accommodate the persons leaving agriculture, and the newly educated non-farm job seekers. As a result there was an upsurge in educated youth unemployment (18% and about 24 million) rate, and hence the discouraged youth labour force. On the other hand, an increase in the share (from 8.0 to 10.2%) and growth (3.0–5.1%) of elderly population put a question on the process of harnessing demographic dividend in India. Based on these findings it is argued that an integrated approach of development is necessary to boost the labour force participation of youth and overall population to boost the growth of per capita national state domestic product (NSDP) in Indian states. This could be achieved through the promotion of micro and small enterprises along with infrastructure development along with a systematic emigration and remittances policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracking and analyzing the labour market dynamics at regular, frequent intervals is critical. However, this was not possible for India, a large emerging economy with a significant population undergoing demographic transition, due to a paucity of data. We use the new dataset Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)—Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) and use a panel to create Labour Flow Charts and Transition Matrices for India from January 2019 to December 2021. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time these were created for India. We then use that to look at the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian labour market. We not only look at transitions between employment, unemployment and out of labour force, but also across types of employment—full-time and part-time. The rich data also allows us to consider heterogeneity in the labour market and look at the differential impact of the pandemic across different education groups and gender. From the labour flow charts and transition probabilities, we find that while all groups have been impacted, the magnitude of the impact is different across groups. The recovery is also uneven, and the extent depends on education levels. Further, we do an event study analysis to examine the likelihood of getting a full-time job across different educational and gender groups. Men, on average, enjoy a higher likelihood of getting a full-time job than women. The likelihood coefficients also go up with increasing educational qualifications. Looking at skill heterogeneity, while the likelihood of getting a full-time job either goes down for most groups during the pandemic or the change is minuscule, strikingly it goes up for those with no education, for both men and women. The likelihood coefficients remain elevated for men even after the restrictions are removed, and that for women reverts to the level seen before the pandemic. Finally, this paper provides a way to continuously monitor the dynamics of the labour market as data is released in the regular intervals in the future, which would be of great value for researchers and policymakers alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A global goal for early childhood education and care is to ensure universal, "quality" provision that reaches all children. Achieving this goal requires a well-prepared workforce that is equipped to adapt to and deliver early childhood programs across the vastly diverse contexts and communities where children are growing up around the world. Yet currently there is a severe shortage of early childhood workers, particularly in "low resource" and complex communities. Evidence to support appropriate training for such workers is also lacking. In response, this paper presents findings from a case study of a large-scale training program for community-based early childhood workers in central-east India. A total of 650 community-based Village Communicators were trained to deliver a responsive caregiving package to parents of young children. Data collected over 3 months highlight how the unique contextually grounded, caring and reflexive approach to training resulted in profound personal and professional change among training participants. The findings are of significance in informing policy and practice associated with global goals for early childhood. First, they challenge the technical, programmatic approaches to training that are commonly adopted for preparing this workforce. Second, they evidence the potentially transformative, long-term impact of person-centered approaches to training that facilitate knowledge-sharing to understand local needs and attitudes. Third, they provide insight into ways in which training programs can support enhanced local relevance and effectiveness of early childhood services implemented for children and families across diverse contexts. Highlights: Caring, consultative approaches to training support transformative changes in knowledge and practice among community-based early childhood workers. Community-based workers comprise a crucial yet under-researched workforce globally. Active contribution to adapting early childhood interventions for greater local relevance empowers community-based workers as well as enhancing program content. Training for community-based workers in early childhood needs to shift away from overly programmatic, technical approaches. Meeting global goals for early childhood development requires localized responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgender individuals are those individuals whose identity, demeanor, and demonstrative behavior are alternative to mainstream gender binaries. In keeping with the subject's sensitive nature, the mode of the interviews was face-to-face for data collection. The total number of participants in this qualitative research was 16, though around 35 people were approached. The age group of the assigned female at birth participants ranged from 25 to 40 years, from across India in different small and medium enterprises. The findings reveal the current gender-related issues that negatively affect performance in the workplace and a sense of abandonment from society. Suggestions are provided to address existing challenges, and future research implications are discussed. From the Indian perspective, research on transgender workforce members is limited. Thus, this research is a study of the issues pertaining to this minority workforce with an accompanying exposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a broad agreement that India's north-eastern region (NER) is relatively better off in gender-based development parameters. That being so, we should expect advantageous labour market outcomes as far as the female workforce is concerned. Using unit-level data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) 2011–2012, and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2019–2020, this paper assesses gender equality in the region by focusing on labour market participation, a crucial aspect of women's empowerment. The above holds importance in the backdrop of reduced female labour force participation rates in India experienced in the last decade, as well as the overall complexities of NER's labour market, characterised by multiple long-term challenges, including its unique geographical position, susceptibility to natural calamities, insurgency, cross-border tensions, and internal political conflicts. Our findings highlight a pronounced and widening gender gap in the labour market indicators of NER compared to the rest of India. The female unemployment rate is much higher in the region than in the rest of India, indicating both supply-side constraints and the inability to create suitable jobs. We also find wide variation across the eight north-eastern states concerning their performance in key labour market indicators, indicating the need to adopt state-specific policies. Our paper further looks into the structure and nature of employment for male and female workers in the NER, which reflects increased precarity of work conditions for females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian economy is categorized as one of the fastest growing advancing economies. Much of the growth has been attributed to the industrialization process post-independence especially after economic reforms of 1990s. However, the formal industrial sector has been unable to absorb the growing labor force and thus majority of labor force have been forced to derive and find self-employment options in the informal sector. The current study is an attempt to analyze the Indian industry in light of this formal and informal bifurcation. Using the stochastic frontier analysis, the production functions are validated and technical efficiency (TE) is predicted. The study reveals that the formal industrial sector in India is relatively efficient. However, the informal sector, apart from absorbing higher number of labor force, is performing better than dictated by hitherto classic theoretic predictions. The study also analyzes the factors influencing the TE of the formal and informal sectors. The study concludes that the formal and informal sectors mutually reinforce the industrial growth in India, have positive linkages and contribute efficaciously to economic outcomes like output and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wage inequality is one of the most prominent topics of discussion across the world. The study is an attempt to estimate wage inequality in-between and within various skill-based occupational groups in India. For the purpose, Theil index, one of the most important measures in generalised entropy family, has been utilised on the unit-level data of Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2017–18 (PLFS) pertaining to 94,460 workers employed across skill-categorised broad occupational groups. Wage inequality has observed to be highest in occupational groups requiring highly skilled workers (skill level 4), and the same is witnessed lowest among workers in occupations requiring low level of skill (skill level 1). The study found occupational diversity, diverse nature of work assignment in accordance with cognitive ability of workers the main reasons behind increasing wage inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use nationally representative data from two waves of the Indian Human Development Survey to examine the role of inter-temporal changes in fertility behavior in influencing female labor market outcomes. Our multivariate regression estimates show that an increase in the number of children reduces labor force participation and earnings. We further investigated the impact of fertility changes on transitions from the labor market. The results show that women who had more than three children in both rounds of the survey had a 3.5% points higher probability of exiting from the labor market than their counterparts with two or fewer children net of other socio-demographic factors. Disaggregated analyses by caste, economic, educational status, and region show that the probability of dropping out of the labor market due to fertility changes varies by region and is greater for non-poor and primary to secondary schooling women and those from socially disadvantaged castes than poor, non-educated, and socially advantageous women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an attempt to look at the change in the regional disparity in the likelihood of educational transition from lower to higher levels of education from pre to the post-liberalization period. Secondly, we try to investigate the association between the likelihood of educational participation and educational transition from one to the next level of education and two labour market outcomes, such as likelihood of getting employment and expected earnings after the completion of education. This enables us to comment on the impact of the labour market outcomes on educational participation vis-à-vis this allows us to explain the reasons behind the inter-regional disparity in educational transition and overtime persistence of this disparity. For the accomplishment of these objectives we use the datasets provided by six quinquennial employment and unemployment surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Offices and third annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (2019–20), and we employ the sequential logistic model of regression. Findings reveal that there was a substantial regional disparity in educational participation and educational transition in school and college/university education across Indian states, though this disparity had declined satisfactorily in school education without any satisfactory decline in college/university education from pre-liberalization to post-liberalization period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While India is entering the period of demographic dividend, female labour participation rates remain very low. This paper aims to provide the very first labour force projections for India and its regions up to the year 2060. Projections are achieved using a discrete-time microsimulation model in which changes in population size and composition come from the interaction between demographic characteristics, educational attainment, and secular tendencies. Labour force participation rates are estimated at the individual level using personal characteristics as predictors. Results show that under constant labour force participation rates, the labour force dependency ratio (non-workers/workers) is very unlikely to attain favourable levels, which compromises the potential demographic dividend that the country could gain from its favourable age-structure. At the subnational level, the forecast yields the most favourable dependency ratio in 2060 in the regions that combine both a low-age dependency ratio and a higher participation of women. Results moreover suggest that female labour force participation is a better driver of the labour force dependency ratio than the age composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using annual time-series data from 1970 to 2016, this study attempts to examine the effects of environmental degradation on agricultural efficiency in India. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), fully modified OLS (FMOLS) models are used to explore the long-run influence of environmental degradation and other control variables such as labor force, metabolic energy, fertilizer usage, and farm machinery on agricultural efficiency. Also, dynamic OLS (DOLS) and canonical cointegration regression (CCR) methods are used to validate the robustness of the estimated ARDL and FMOLS results. The Granger causality approach is used to examine causation among variables. According to ARDL and FMOLS estimates, fertiliser use, farm machinery, and metabolic energy improve India's agricultural efficiency. Agricultural methane emissions, on the other hand, reduce agricultural production. Furthermore, the DOLS and CCR approaches validate the estimated ARDL and FMOLS outcomes, indicating that the results are robust and consistent. The study suggest that the government should modernize agricultural research and seed systems and market and input diversification to help farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to assess India's performance in generating the required quantity and quality of employment for its growing population since independence in 1947. But the exercise is set in a longer period that covers India's population growth since the turn of the twentieth century (1901) in relation to its ability to generate employment. The half-a-century preceding independence, despite a slow population growth, was a disaster in generating employment and any signs of structural change. Detailed analysis of the issue since independence shows that there was indeed a demographic burden more than the world average as well as its comparator Asian countries such as China and Indonesia. While employment generation with reference to growth—employment elasticity—was quite impressive during the first four decades of independence, it almost collapsed ever since the adoption of neoliberal economic reforms in 1991, thus entering a phase of 'jobless growth', a phenomenon that is shared by China in a more vigorous form. This has led to what may be called an exclusion of working age people from not just employment but from labour force indicating the emergence of 'discouraged workers' in a larger set that we called underutilized labour. But what about those who are included in the workforce? Does it ensure an escape from poverty for those at the bottom? Our estimates show that the pace of reduction in the incidence of poverty is so slow that a significant share of households is still below the international definition of extreme poverty. We attribute this to the quality of employment characterized by a high incidence of informal sector employment as well as low wages measured by the share of workers not receiving a recommended subsistence wage. The absence of any kind of social security to an overwhelming share of workers adds to this situation of absolute poverty. Finally we examine the question of poverty from the point of manifold inequalities by dividing the households in the economy in terms of their employment, educational, rural–urban, and social group statuses for estimating predicted probability of being poor. The results bring into sharp focus the huge variation in predicted probability that shows households with low education, disadvantaged social group status, casual nature of employment, and living in rural areas at the bottom end of the scale. These results bring out the imperative for creating more employment with better quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project performance of the construction sector can be significantly improved by proper project planning and scheduling. A divergence opinion is included in this area which implies the amount of effort that is required or should be invested in construction planning and scheduling activity to make the project management effective. A lot of work has been already reported in the literature which clearly shows that the project performance can be enhanced by raising the efforts invested in project planning, scheduling, and controlling activities. The organizational characteristics of the construction firms and the project environment have a great influence on planning and scheduling efforts. The firm should be organized appropriately to maintain a relevant environmental context in the project planning. In India, after agriculture, it has been notified that the construction sector is the second largest employment sector. Also, it has been considered as one of the largest sectors which support the economic growth of the country. The magnification of the construction sector is based on the growth of the corporate sector and infrastructure development either directly or indirectly. The construction sector generates employment and provides job opportunities to millions of unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workforce. When it comes to the economic development of the country and a large labour force are engaged in this sector, definitely a high work effort we can consider from appropriate project planning activity. To keep in mind the importance of project management in the construction sector, our study is focusing on the relationship between construction planning efforts and their effectiveness in the field of project performance. Software used for Construction Project Management (CPM) is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economy of India is growing continuously with its gross domestic product increasing rapidly than most of the developing countries. Nonetheless an increase in national gross domestic product is not revealing the earning parity at micro level in the country. The earning inequality in a country like India has adversely obstructed under privileged in accessing basic needs such as health and education. The Periodic labour force survey (PLFS) conducted by the National Statistical Office of India generates estimates on earning status at state and national level for both rural and urban sectors separately. However, due to a small sample size problem that leads to high sampling variability, these surveys cannot be used directly to produce reliable estimates at micro level such as district or further disaggregate levels. As earnings are often unevenly distributed among the subgroups of comparatively small areas, disaggregate level statistics are inevitably needed in the country for target specific policy planning and monitoring to reduce the earning disparity. Nonetheless, owing to unavailability of estimates at district level, the analysis and spatial mapping related to earning inequality are limited to the national and state level. As a result, the existing variability in disaggregate level earning distribution are often unavailable. This article describes multivariate small area estimation (SAE) to generate precise and representative district-wise model-based estimates of inequality in earning distribution in rural and urban areas of Uttar Pradesh state in India by linking the latest round of PLFS 2018–2019 data and the 2011 Indian Population Census data. The diagnostic measures demonstrate that the district-wise estimates of earning generated by multivariate SAE method are reliable and representative. The spatial maps produced in this analysis reveal district level inequality in earning distribution in the state of Uttar Pradesh. These disaggregate level estimates and spatial mapping of earning distribution are directly pertinent to measuring and monitoring the sustainable development goal 10 of inequality reduction within countries. These expected to offer evidence to executive policy-makers and experts for recognizing the areas demanding additional consideration. This study will definitely provide added advantage to the newly launched schemes of Government of India for fund distribution along with the better monitoring of these schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy's (CMIE) Consumer Pyramid Household surveys have emerged as an important source of regular labour market data for India. Given the differences in methods in data collection between the CMIE and official employment sources, it becomes exceedingly important to establish some comparability between the government and the CMIE datasets. With the release of the official Periodic Labour Force Surveys for 2017–18, we now have an overlap between the official datasets and CMIE datasets. In this paper, we examine the extent of comparability of labour force estimates from these two datasets. We find that employment estimates for men are broadly comparable. However, for women, there is a consistent divergence, with CMIE estimates of women's workforce participation lower than that of NSS-PLFS. We find that irrespective of the reference period used in the PLFS estimation of employment statuses, there is no convergence with the CMIE employment estimate for women's employment. Moreover, the mismatch in CMIE-PLFS estimates occurs across all types of women's employment and irrespective of what reference period of employment (in official data) is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to analyse the factors which affect Indian working age women's continuous withdrawal from the labourforce. The main objective deals with two specific questions: probing the empirical validity of the U-hypothesis and exploring whether supply side factors could sufficiently explain the falling FLFPR in India, especially in its rural sectors. Through a review of available empirical literature, factors like social constraints, upward mobility among lower castes and household burden have been identified as some of the major determinants. Using three rounds of NSSO data namely 50th round (1993–94), 61st round (2004–05), 68th round (2011–12) of Employment and Unemployment Surveys and the PLFS (2017–18) data, our analysis (across factors) have shown the existence of U-shaped relationship between FLFPR and education, however it shifts downwards with time. The relationship between FLFPR and MPCE deciles is not U-shaped but negative. Women from higher income class are more likely of being graduates thus increasing their probability of joining the labour force; even then a lower labour force participation of women in the upper deciles show the dominance of Income effect over education. It is significant that FLFPR declines with time irrespective of income and education. This indicates existence of factors other than supply side for explaining the problem of falling FLFPR. Particularly, one needs to focus on demand side problems and social-institutional factors inhibiting women from joining the labour force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses primary data collected from 325 rural households in one of the remote but densely populated districts of Assam, India, to evaluate the impact of internally generated remittances on household welfare, spending patterns and labour supply decisions of left-behind adult family members. Using selectivity-corrected covariate balancing propensity score matching method and also endogeneity-corrected instrumental variable analysis, the study finds that remittances from kith and kin residing elsewhere in the country serve to increase the monthly per-capita consumption expenditure of rural households and help to lower the level, depth and severity of poverty. Remittances have also been observed to influence household spending patterns with higher proportion of annual expenditure being devoted to food and education by recipient households. In the labour market, remittances are found to give rise to a 'dependency syndrome' as adult members belonging to remittance-receiving households were less likely to enter the labour market. However, no significant adverse impact of remittances on labour intensity by employed workers was observed. Remittances were also found to be lowering the probability of workers being engaged as casual daily wage labourers while enhancing the likelihood of salaried employment and agricultural and non-agricultural businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underpinned study examines the effects of climatic and non-climatic factors on Indian agriculture, cereal production, and yield using the country-level time series data of 1965–2015. With the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach, the long-term equilibrium association among the variables has been explored. The results reveal that climatic factors like CO2 emissions and temperature adversely affect agricultural output, while rainfall positively affects it. Likewise, non-climatic factors, including energy used, financial development, and labor force, affect agricultural production positively in the long run. The estimated long-run results further demonstrate that CO2 emissions and rainfall positively affect both cereal production and yield, while temperature adversely affects them. The results exhibit that the cereal cropped area, energy used, financial development, and labor force significantly and positively impact the long-run cereal production and yield. Finally, pairwise Granger causality test confirmed that both climatic and non-climatic factors are significantly influencing agriculture and cereal production in India. Based on these results, policymakers and governmental institutions should formulate coherent adaptation measures and mitigation policies to tackle the adverse climate change effects on agriculture and its production of cereals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel of establishments from the annual survey of industries, I study the impact of the 1991 trade liberalization episode in India on the employment share of women. Contrary to the predictions of a taste-based discrimination model, I find that establishments exposed to larger output tariff reductions and import competition reduced the share of female workers. I also find that input tariff reductions neither raised nor reduced female employment share. The negative association between output tariff reductions and female employment appears to be driven by establishments which increased the number of shifts per worker. Since women in India are prohibited by law from working long hours and night shifts, this hours-constraint appears to have reduced relative employment of women. This paper is the first to provide empirical evidence of how an ostensibly pro-women policy of limiting female work hours might have unintended side effects. In order to look at the overall effects of liberalization on the gender employment share, I use Census of India data to create a district level panel. I find that districts which were more exposed to the reforms experienced a reduction in the share of female workers. This was observed for both urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has disrupted the Indian economy. Government-enforced lockdown to restrict the spread of infection has impacted the household economy in particular. We combine aggregates from national income accounts and estimates from the microdata of a labour force survey covering more than 0.1 million households and 0.4 million individuals. The aggregate daily loss to households is USD 2.42 billion. While loss to earnings accounts for 72% of the total, the rest 28% is wage loss. Service-based activities account for two thirds of wage loss, and natural resource-based activities are responsible for most of the earning loss. The dominance of informal job contracts and job switching in labour markets intensifies this, with the most vulnerable group consisting of 57.8 million in casual engagement, who have a high degree of transition from one stream of employment to another on a daily basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the impact of urban infrastructure investment on female labour force participation is studied for different income groups, namely the poor, the lower class, and the middle class. In particular, the effect of government spending on water supply/sanitation, buses, and basic household services under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) on female labour force participation is assessed. A probit regression model over a pooled cross-sectional dataset at the district level is deployed for the analysis. Female labour force participation is the categorical dependent variable, while government spending on the infrastructure scheme is the main explanatory variable. The results indicate that investment on water supply and sanitation facilities in a district has a positive effect on female labour force participation among middle-class women, but not on lower-class women. The expenditure on dwellings, and basic services, discourages female labour force participation among poor women. The paper throws light on the role of class in determining the effect of urban infrastructure programmes on female labour force participation. It shows that the poor women are not driven into labour force due to lesser burden of household chores in the presence of better water supply, and sanitation facilities, and the urban housing programmes alienate poor women from job opportunities, while encouraging middle-class women to participate in the labour force due to the creation of a slum-free and supposedly safe environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistent problem of low and stagnant labour force participation rate of women in urban India over the past two and a half decades has been well recognised by scholars. The rates stagnated within the low range of 22–23%, during the period extending between 1999–2000 and 2011–2012. The paper attempts to contribute to the current understanding of this puzzling phenomenon through a sequential analysis of long-term trends in female labour force participation rate by disaggregating urban women in terms of their age, marital status, and education levels. The cross-sectional analysis is supplemented by the nonparametric technique of classification and regression tree (CART). Focussing on the sample of non-student urban women, the paper finds that the problem relates primarily to the relatively better educated married women in the age-cohorts of 30–59 years. Moreover, 2011–2012 was marked by a further weakening in the labour market outcomes of these women, both with respect to the lesser educated married women and married men in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the trends and employment patterns from a gender perspective in India. With the use of latest PLFS data and two rounds of EUS, it draws out the changes in female employment during the period 2005–2019 using exploratory research methods. The employment elasticity of output has turned negative at −0.039 between 2012 and 2018. This has affected female employment more than that of males. Education levels have gone up among females, but corresponding rise in employment is not reflected. On the contrary, female WPR has gone down in 2019 since 2005. The paper traces the temporal patterns during 2005–2019, between rural and urban areas, and provides an overview of current state of female employment in India. Results show that the decline is present across the country in all states and union territories. There has been a slight rise in urban areas in certain states. Another positive development is rise in regular salaried employment and reduction in self-employment. The fall in self-employment is owing to falling share of unpaid family workers. There is industrial segregation among female workers with higher concentration in agriculture and services. Share of female workers in non-manufacturing sector increased during 2005–2012 but went down thereafter. Education has been the major employer for women, and their share in this industry has increased by 4.45 percentage points since 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]