Indian Economic Development Chapter 7 Employment : Growth, Informalisation And Other Issues

Any person who is engaged in an production activity and thus contributes to the gross national product, in whatever capacity- high or low, is a worker.

Unemployment is a situation in which the persons willing to do a work are available but do not find a job.

In underdeveloped countries chronic and disguised unemployment are found due to the lack of capital.

It is a problem of developed countries where there is no demand in the market, industries reduce their production and some workers are relieved from their jobs.

Agriculture is a seasonal activity. In the absence of supplementary sources of employment, the farmers have to remain unemployed during slack agricultural season. Similar is the position in some occupations like rice-sellers, sugar mills, ice factories etc.

When the country's labour force does not get opportunities for gainful employment, it is termed as open unemployment. This type of unemployment is mostly found in industrial sector of our economy.

This refers to persons who have been thrown out of work by the introduction of superior technology in their area of operation.

When the people do not get employment after getting education, they are called educated unemployed persons.

Disguised unemployment refers to a situation wherein more people are engaged in agricultural sector than required. There is a surplus workforce. If a part of them is withdrawn from there, the total produce would remain unaffected.

The main causes of educated unemployment are defective education system, lack of aptitude and technical qualifications. There is maladjustment between demand and supply of educated workers.

The population of urban areas is increasing very fast due to high birth rate and migration from the rural sector but job opportunities are not increasing to the desired rate. It creates the problem of urban unemployment.

The most prevalent form of unemployment in the rural sector are disguised unemployment and seasonal unemployment.

National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has developed three concepts of unemployment suitable to Indian conditions.

A person is considered unemployed on usual status basis if he had remained unemployed for a major part of the year.

A person is considered unemployed by current weekly status, if he had not worked even for one hour during the week but was seeking or was available for work.

Current daily status unemployment is estimated in terms of the total person days of unemployment i.e. the aggregate of all the unemployment days of all persons in the labour force during the week. This concept takes into account the persons who did not find work on a day or some days during the survey week.

The people work for earning a living.

The total money value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year is called its gross domestic product for that year.

When we add net factor income from abroad to Gross Domestic Product, it is called Gross National Product.

Those activities that contribute to the gross domestic national product are called economic activities.

The women carry out works like cooking, fetching water and fuelwood and participate in farm labour. They are not paid wages in cash or any other form. So they are not categorized as workers.

Population is defined as the total number of people residing in a particular locality at a particular point of time.

When total number of workers is divided by population and multiplied by 100, we will get the worker-population ratio.

Those workers who own and operate an enterprise and earn their livelihood are known as self-employed. For example, a shopkeeper, a farmer, a doctor etc. are self-employed persons and their income is called mixed income.

They are casual wage workers.

When workers are engaged by someone or an enterprise and paid their wages on a regular basis, they are known as regular salaried workers.

There are three sectors of the economy-primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector.

The main source of employment for majority of workers in India is the primary sector.

Those enterprises which are owned, managed and controlled by government are called public sector enterprises.

All the enterprises which are owned, managed and controlled by the private entrepreneurs are called private sector enterprises establishments.

Private sector establishments which employ 10 hired workers or more are called formal sector establishments and those who work in such establishments are called formal sector workers.

Informal sector includes millions of farmers, agricultural labourers, owners of small enterprises and working in those enterprises and self-employed who do not have any hired worker.

Skill means expertise in doing a work. It is a basic requirement to get employment.

The industrial training institutes, crafts schools, polytechnic colleges, engineering colleges, medical colleges, agricultural universities, veterinary colleges and universities, management institutions are known as professional and technical institutions.

A beggar is not a worker. Whatever he gets is one-sided payment that is transfer income. He does not contribute in the national income of the country.

service

informal

Population is defined as the total number of people who reside in a particular locality at a particular point of time.

Worker-population ratio is calculated by dividing the product of total number of workers and 100 by the population of a country. In formula,

Worker population ratio =

Rate of participation may be defined as the percentage of population actually participating in the production activity. It is measured as the ratio between workforce and total population of a country.

Jobless growth is a situation when the level of output in the economy tends to rise without a proportionate rise in the opportunities of employment.

Casualisation of workforce refers to a situation when the percentage of casually hired workers in the total work-force tend to rise over time.

Production activity refers to the process of producing goods and services.

Self-employed workers are those workers who are engaged in their own business or own profession. They do not hire out their services to others.

Hired workers are those workers who work for others. They render their services to others and get wages/salaries as reward.

All those who are engaged in economic activities, in whatever capacity—high or low are workers.

Men form the majority of work-force in India. About 70% of the workers are men.

Government.

Since the late 1970’s many developing countries including India started paying attention to enterprises and workers in the informal sector as employment in formal sector is not growing.

Workers employed in informal sector.

Workers of formal sector.

Informalisation of employment refers to a situation when the percentage of casually hired workers in the total work-force tends to rise over time.

Formalisation of work force refers a situation when the percentage of regular hired workers in the total work force tends to rise over time.

Construction workers.

Types of workers : (i) Self-employed workers and (ii) Hired workers (casual workers and regular workers).

Casualisation of employment refers to a situation when the percentage of hired casually workers in the total work force tends to rise over time.

Unemployment is a situation in which all able and willing persons may not find jobs or activities to provide them with means of living.

Sources of employment:
1.Employment Exchanges, 2. T.V., 3. Radio, 4. Newspapers, 5. Employment News, 6. Relatives and Friends, 7. Placements etc.

Self-employment.

More than 50% of the work-force is self-employed.

1. Casual workers, 2. Regular workers.

37% of the work-force.

The total money value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year is called gross domestic product for that year. When net factor income from abroad is added to it we get national product.

Activities which contribute to the national income:

1. Farming, 2. Trading

3. Manufacturing in a factory

4. Forestry and mining

5. Treatment by doctor in a hospital.

Raj, when he is busy in his farm contributes to production but he is not paid for his work. He helps his parents in agriculture. As he is not paid, he is not a paid worker.

In India about 70 percent of the workers are men and the rest are women.

Women workers are one-third of the rural workforce. Women carry out works like cooking, fetching water and fuel-wood and participate in farm labour. They are not paid wages in cash or in the form of grains or they are not paid at all. For this reason these women are not categorized as workers. Some economists argue that these women must be considered as workers and their contribution should be included in national product as their services are valuable.

In rural areas people cannot stay at home as their economic conditions may not allow them to do so. Compared to females more males are found working. In urban areas, for every 100 urban females, only about 14 are engaged in some economic activity. In rural areas, for every 100 rural women about 30 participate in employment market. In urban areas men are able to earn high income, families discourage female members from taking up jobs. In rural areas large number of women belonging to the families of landless labourers, marginal farmers and members of the families of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes go out of their homes to find the job because of very low standard of living.

Meena's activities in the cloth shop owned and operated by her husband are not included in the activities of Worker, if she is not paid for her services. Her husband's income is a mixed income in which her contribution is also included. If she works in the shop owned and managed by some other person and is paid for her services then she will be included in workers.

(i) Rickshaw-puller who works under a rickshaw owner : Regular salaried employees.

 Mason : The construction workers are known as casual wage labourers.

Mechanic shop worker : Regular salaried employees. He is odd one out.

Shoeshine boy : Self-employed worker.

It is clear from the above table that workforce in rural area was 125 million males and 69 million females.

In urban areas 32 million males and 7 million females were working.

The ratio of workforce into male and female was 157:77.

In rural areas, more people are included in workforce than in urban areas. The reason is most of the people living in rural areas are engaged in agricultural sector.

(i) The worker-population ratio into rural-urban area is 55.3 : 52.1.

Male workers are more in rural areas than in urban areas.

(ii) Female workers are more in rural areas than urban areas.

(iii) Total workers, population is more in rural area than urban area.

(i) In 1972–73 self-employed persons were more than the persons in 1999-2000. There was a decrease in self-employed persons.

(ii) Regular service employees in 1972-73 were 19.8 percent which were more than 1999-2000 due to retrenchment and VRS policies.

(iii) The number of casual wage labourers is increasing. They work in other firm and get a remuneration for the work done.

When workers are engaged by someone or an enterprise and paid their wages on a regular basis, they are known as regular salaried employees. In urban areas regular salaried employees are more than rural areas because most of the government offices, establishment, private corporate offices, school, colleges and hospitals etc. are located in urban areas where the people are engaged on regular basis.

During the last fifty years, gross domestic product of India grew positively and higher than the employment growth. During this period, employmnet grew stabilly at about 2 percent. In the late 1990s employment growth had started declining and reached the level of growth that India had in the early stages of planning. During this period the gap between the growth of GDP and employment has widened.

This means, in the Indian economy without generating employment, we are able to produce more goods and services. This is called jobless growth.

In case of regular salaried employment, men are found in greater proportion. They form 18 percent whereas women form only 8 percent. Regular salaried jobs require skills and higher level of literacy, women might not have been engaged to a great extent.

Estimated no. of workers (in crores)

We can suggest programmes aimed at providing not only employment but also services in areas such as primary health, primary education, rural shelter, rural drinking water, nutrition etc. These activities will help in the improvement of the village and generate employment opportunities also.

Casual Wage labour : Casual wage labour means working on daily wages. Casual wage labourers are those workers who are not hired by their employers by their employers on regular basis. They are nto on permanent payroll on their employees. They are not entitled to all social security benefits including pension, gratutity and provident fund. They are geneally unskilled woerks. A worker working at the construction site is a casual labourer.

A worker working in the informal sector does not have any hired worker. In this sector the workers do not get maternity benefit, provident fund, gratuity and pension. He get lower salary compared to another person doing the same work in public sector enterprise. The labour laws do not protect them.

(iv) Mother dairy because all other are working men/women.

A beggar, a thief, a smuggler and a gambler can not be termed as worker because they are not contributing to gross domestic product. When a farmer works on fields, he produces food grains and raw materials for industries. Cotton becomes cloth in textile mills and in powerlooms. Lorries transport goods from are place to another. The total money value of all such goods and services produced in a country in a year in called its gross domestic product. Hence the activities of thief, beggar, smuggler and a gambler are not producing anything and also not contributing to the gross domestic product of the country. So they are not workers.

Victor is able to work for only two hours a day and is looking for work for the remaining period of the day. He is a casual wage labourer. He may be called under-employed. India's 33 percent of the total workforce constitutes of casual wage labourers.

Workers and enterprises in the informal sector do not get regular income. They do not have any protection or regulation from the government. Workers are dismissed without any compensation. Technology in informal sector is outdated. Workers in this sector live in slums. The informal sector enterprises do not maintain accounts. So it is necessary to generate employment in the formal sector rather than informal sector. Now Indian government has initiated the modernisation of informal sector enterprises and provision of social security measures to informal sector workers.

Features of labour force in India:

1. The percentage of casual labourers is very high. The causal wage labourers account for 33% of India’s work force.

2. The number of casual workers is increasing with the time.

Most of the workers in the urban areas belong to villages. They live in urban areas for a limited time. They go back to their villages in the rainy season. There they do agricultural activities. On account of their going back to villages there is scarcity of labour force in urban areas.

Features:

1. The workers in the informal sector do not get regular income.

2. They do not have any protection or regulation from the government.

3. Workers are dismissed without any compensation.

4. Workers of this sector live in slums and are squatters.

5. Informal sector enterprises do not maintain proper account of their workers.

6. The workers cannot form trade unions.

7. They are not entitled to any social security.

(i) There were about 400 million workers in the country in 1999-2000.

(ii) There were about 28 million workers in the formal sector.

(iii) There were 23.2 million male workers in formal sector.

(iv) There were 118.2 million female workers in informal sector.

Distribution of work-force in India:

1. Seven percent of total work-force is employed in the formal sector.

2. 93% of the total work-force is employed in informal sector.

Occupational structure:

1. Main source of employment is most of the workers of primary sector. More than 60% of work-force is employed in primary sector.

2. About 16% of work-force is employed in secondary sector.

3. About 24% of work-force is employed in service sector.

Changes in the structure of workforce in India:

1. Newly emerging jobs are found mostly in the service sector.

2. Out sourcing of work is becoming a common practice.

3. The traditional notion of the modern factor or office, has been altering in such a manner that for many, the home is becoming the workplace.

4. The nature of employment has become informal with only limited availability of social security measures to the workers.

Ahmedabad is a prosperous city. Before 1980s, there were 60 textile mills with a labour force of 1,50,000 workers employed in them. These workers had over the course of the century, acquired a certain degree of income security. They had secure jobs with a living wage. They were covered by social security schemes protecting their health and old age. They had a strong union. These unions not only represented the labourers in dispute, but also ran activities for the welfare of labourers and their family.

Ill-effects : Following were the ill-effects of the closure of textile mills in Ahmedabad:

1. Over the period of 10 years, approximately over 80,000 permanent workers and over 50,000 non-permanent workers lost their jobs.

2. After losing their jobs, the workers were driven into the informal sector.

3. There were economic recession in the city.

4. There were public disturbances, especially communal riots.

5. Middle class was thrown into poverty.

6. There was wide-spread of alcoholism.

7. There was wide-spread suicides.

8. Children were withdrawn from school and sent to work.

Primary Sector is the main source of employment for majority of workers in India. Secondary Sector provides employment to only 16 percent of workforce. About 24 percent of workers are in the services sector. More than three-fourths of workforce in rural India depends on agriculture and mining. About 10 percent of the rural workers are working in manufacturing industries, construction and other sectors.

Service sector provides employment to only about 13 percent of rural workers. About 60 percent of urban workers are in the services sector. The secondary sector gives employment to about 30 percent of urban workforce. Women workers concentration is very high in primary sector. Men get opportunities in both secondary and services sectors.

Employment of workers on the basis of gender : The chart below shows that in India more than half the workforce is self – employed. Casual workers account for 33% and regular salaried employees account for 18% of India's workforce.

Distribution of employment by gender :

(b) Distribution of workers on the basis of region : In this category, as per the figure shown below, the self-employed and casual wage labourers are found more in rural areas than in urban areas. In urban areas, both self-employed and regular wage salaried jobs are greater because in urban areas most of the person depend on farming and cultivate and prefer to do independentally.

India is an agricultural country. A major section of population lives in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture as their main livelihood. When we see the economic history of the developed countries, we find that the population working in agricultural sector declines with the development of the economy. The percentage of working population increases in industrial and service sector. Before 1971, the development process was slow in India. In 1972-73 about 74% workforce was engaged in agricultural sector (Primary sector) and in 1999-2000 this proportion has declined to 60 percent service and secondary sectors are providing jobs to Indian workforce. The share of these sectors increased to 23.8% and 15.8%, respectively. Over the last forty years, the people moved from self employment and regular salaried employment to casual wage work. Self-employment is a major employment provider. It is due to casualisation of workforce.

Formal Sector : All the public sector establishments and those private sector establishments, which employ 10 hired workers or more are called as formal sector establishments and the workers working in these establishments are called formal sector workers.

Informal Sector : All the other enterprises and workers who do not work in formal sector are called informal sector workers. The informal sector includes millions of farmers, agricultural labourers, owners of small enterprises and working in those enterprises and self-employed who do not have any hired workers.

Worker-population ratio is an indicator which is used for analysing the employment situation in the country. This ratio is useful in knowing the proportion of population that is actively contributing to the production of goods and services of a country. If the ratio is higher, it means that the engagement of people is greater and vice versa. The table below indicates the different levels of participation of people in economic activities:

Worker–Population Ratio in India 1999-2000

The above table shows that for every 100 persons about 40 are workers in India. In urabn areas, the proportion is about 34 whereas in rural India, the proportion is about 42. The reasons responsible for such type of differeces are :

(i) people in rural areas have limited resources to earn a higher income and participate more in the employment market.

(ii) Many of them donot go the schools, colleges and other training institutions, hence they can engage primarily in manual work and they have less employment opportunities.

Compared to females, more males are found to be working. This difference is higher in urban areas.

Following are the main causes of ever-increasing unemployment in India :

(i) Slow Economic Growth : Indian economy is underdeveloped and the rate of economic growth is very slow. This slow growth rate fails to provide enough employment opportunities to the rising population. Supply of labour is much more than the available employment opportunities.

(ii) Rapid Growth of Population : Constant increase in population has been a grave problem of India. It is one of the main causes of unemployment. Despite the completion of vine Five Year Plans, the number of unemployed has actually increased inspite of decreasing.

(iii) Agriculture : A Seasonal Occupation : Agriculture is so underdeveloped in India that it largely offers seasonal employment. No doubt it is the primary occupation of our country and a large chunk of the population depends upon it, but its seasonal character does not provide work to the farmers all the year round. Most of the farmers remain idle for three to four months in a year. The volume of disguised unemployment is estimated to be nearly 15 percent of the total working population in agriculture.

(iv) Lack of Irrigation Facilities : Despite the completion of Nine Five Year Plans, irrigation facilities could be provided only to 34 percent of agriculture area. For want of irrigation only one crop is grown in a year on the large part of agricultural land. Consequently, the farmers remain unemployed for quite sometime during the year.

(v) Joint Family System : It encourages disguised unemployment. In big families having large businesses, many such persons are found who do not do any work and depend on the joint income of the family. Joint family system is more prevalent in rural areas; hence a high degree of disguised unemployment exists there.

(vi) Decline of Cottage and Small Industries : The industrial development policy adopted by the Britishers adversely affected the artisans working in small and cottage industries. The goods previously produced by these industries are now being produced by large-scale industries. These artisans were, therefore, thrown out of employment. No doubt, after Independence, Government of India has been taken several measures to revive and develop smail-scale and cottage industries, but still these continue to be in distress.

(vii) Low Savings and Investment : There is shortage of capital in India, and even the scarce capital has not been wisely invested. Bulk of the capital has been invested in large scale industries with high capital output ratio needing more capital per unit of output.

(viii) Mobility of Labour : Mobility of labour in India is very low. Owing to their attachment to the family, people generally do not move out to far-off areas even when jobs are available there. Factors like diversity of language, religion and customs also contribute to low mobility. Lesser the mobility, greater the unemployment.

Briefly, whereas low rate of economic growth is generating only limited employment opportunities, high rate of population growth is multiplying the demand for jobs. Consequently, the gulf between the supply of labour and the demand for labour is expanding with millions of people struggling to find jobs for subsistence.

Following are some important suggestions to solve the problem of unemployment in India:

(i) Increase in Production : To increase employment, it is essential to increase production in agriculture and industrial sectors. Development of small and cottage industries should be encouraged. Foreign trade should be encouraged and production of industries, minerals and plantation should be accelerated. Greater the production, greater is the demand for labour.

(ii) Increase in Productivity : Demand for labour is directly related to the productivity of labour. Higher productivity generates higher profits and therefore, greater demand for labour. Accordingly, productivity (implying efficiency) of labour must improve.

(iii) High Rate of Capital Formation : Rate of capital formation in the country should be accelerated. Capital formation should be particularly encouraged in such activities which generate greater employment opportunities. Capital-output ratio should be kept low. These days it is 3:6. It means, to produce goods worth Re. 1, capital worth Rs. 3.6 is invested. If capital-output ratio is high, then increase in the rate of capital formation will have very little effect on production and employment. It is, therefore, essential that along with increase in the rate of capital formation, there should be decrease in the capital-output ratio.

(iv) More Help to Self-employed Persons : Around 62 per cent of people in India are self-employed. Most of them are engaged in agriculture. Besides, they are also engaged in trade, cottage and small industries, building construction, restaurants, transport, etc. Government should provide facilities like irrigation, better seeds, manures, implements, credit, etc. to small and marginal farmers. In addition, self-employed persons in urban areas should be given facilities of credit, marketing, raw material, technical training and the like.

(v) Change in the Educational Patterns : There is urgent need to completely change educational policy in the country. Only such students be admitted to colleges and universities who have some definite objective to prosecute their studies. From the very beginning emphasis should be laid on vocational education. Educated persons must be inculcated with the spirit of serving in villages in the capacity of teachers, doctors etc. Qualified engineers should be given financial assistance to set up their own small units. Institutions providing employment information and guidance should be strengthened and their activities be properly coordinated with employment agencies.

(vi) Change in the Technique of Industrial Production : Technique of production should suit the needs and means of the country. It is essential that labour intensive technology is encouraged in the place of the capital-intensive technology. Quick yielding industries be given preference.

(vii) Cooperative Industries : Cooperative industries should be encouraged as far as possible. The Government of Kerala has set up a textile mill in which 600 unemployed persons contributed Rs. 500 each and rest of the capital was provided by the government. This indeed is a novel approach to the problem of unemployment. Different State Governments should initiate necessary steps in this direction.

(viii) More Importance to Employment Programmes in Plans : Under Plans such programmes should be given more importance which raise the level of employment. The programmes that can best serve this end are : irrigation, roads, flood-control, power, agriculture, forestry, rural electrification, soil conservation, development of small industries and construction works. Crash Employment programmes should not be encouraged, as these cause more wastage of resources without any corresponding increase in employment on the permanent basis.

(i) In urban area the percentage of hired workers is 58.

(ii) The percentage of hired workers in the rural region is 44.

(iii) The percentage of self-employed persons in rural region is 56.

(iv) The percentage of self-employed persons in urban region is 42.

(v) In rural region the percentage of self-employed persons is higher because people in rural areas have limited resources to earn a higher income. In rural areas, many do not go to schools, colleges and other training institutions. Even if some of them go, they discontinue in the middle to join the work-force.

Sources of unemployment data:

(i) Census Reports of India.

(ii) National Sample Survey Organisation and

(iii) Directorate General of Employment and Training- Employment Exchanges throughout India.

Informalisation of employment refers to a situation when people tend to find employment more in un-organised (or informal) sector of the economy and less in organised (formal) sector of the economy.

Worker-population ratio may be defined as the total number of workers divided by population. It is expressed in percentage.

Self-employed means engaging in one's own business or profession. Self-employed workers do not sell their services to others. They are their own masters.

A formal sector is that sector which consists of all public sector establishments, government establishments and private sector establishments hiring ten or more workers. Formal sector employees have better earnings and higher standard of living.

Labour supply refers to the amount of labour that are willing to offer corresponding to a particular wage rate. It changes in response to change in wage rate. On the other hand, labour force refers to the number of people who are able to work and willing to work at the existing wage rate.

Labour force refers to the number of people who are able to work and willing to work at the existing wage rate whereas work force refers to the number of people actually in employment.

People work due to following reasons:

1. People work for earning a living.

2. Employment gives a feeling of self-esteem and self-worth.

3. Employment contributes to GDP of the nation.

Reasons for studying about working people : We should study about the working people due to following reasons :

1. Study of working people helps in analysing the significance of different sectors in the growth process of the country.

2. It helps us in analysing many social issues such as social security of the workers, work environment, exploitation of workers etc.

3. It offers insight into quality and quantity of our human resources which is an economic determinant of economic growth.

4. With the help of study about working people, we can plan our future requirement of man power across different sectors of the economy.

It is about 40%.

It is about 42%.

Reasons of more level of participation of people in productive activities in rural India than urban India are as follows :

1. People in rural areas have limited resources to earn a higher income and participate more in the employment market.

2. Many do not go to schools, colleges and other training institutions. Even if some go, they discontinue in the middle, to join the work force. Whereas, in urban areas, a considerable section is able to study in various educational institutions.

3. Urban people have a variety of employment opportunities. They look for the appropriate job to suit their qualifications and skills. In rural areas, people cannot stay at home as their economic condition may not allow them to do so.

Problem of educated unemployment can be solved by taking following steps:

(i) From the very beginning, emphasis should be laid on vocational education.

(ii) Only those students should be allowed to seek admission in colleges and institutions who have some definite objectives to prosecute their studies.

(iii) Qualified engineers should be given financial assistance to set-up their own small units.

(iv) Institutions providing employment information and guidance should be strengthened and their activities should be properly coordinated with employment agencies.

Sources of employment:

1. Advertisement, 2. Educational institutions, 3. Employment exchanges, 4. Employment agencies, 5. Casual callers.

Adverse effects of unemployment:

Unemployment is a social as well as economic problem. It is clear from the following observations:

1. Economic consequences : Unemployment has many economic consequences. Due to unemployment, menpower resources of the country are not utilised. It is sheer wastage for the society. It also leads to a loss of output. It lowers the rate of capital formation. It reduces the level of productivity.

2. Social consequences : Unemployment lowers the quality of life. It leads to inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. It also plays a significant role in creating social unrest. It divides the society into haves and haves not.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREG) : National Rural Employment Generation Act 2005 was passed by the Government in the Parliament to generate employment in rural areas under this scheme.

All those who are willing to work at the minimum wage rate are offered work for minimum period of 100 days. The families which are living below the poverty line are covered in this scheme.

This scheme was implemented in 2006 in 200 identified districts of the country.

Those seeking employment are to report in these rural areas where the employment programme has been launched. The employment is offered to those who are able to work and willing to work at the wage rates offered by the government.

Gross domestic product is the total money value of final goods and services produced in a country during a year.

By adding net factor income from abroad to GDP, we get Gross National Product.

The nature of employment in India is multifaceted as it is clear from the following observations:

1. Some get employment throughout the year.

2. Some others get employment for only a few months in a year.

3. Many workers do not get fair wages for their work.

Population is defined as the total number of people who reside in a particular locality at a particular point of time.

Open employment refers to that situation in which the workers having necessary ability to work and willing to work at current wage rate does not get work. He remains unemployed for full time. On the other hand disguised unemployment refers to that situation in which the number of workers engaged in a job is much more than the actually required to accomplish it. If some of them are withdrawn from that job, the total production will not be affected.

Difference between cyclical and structural unemployment : Cyclical unemployment occurs due to cyclical fluctuations in economy. Depreciation is one of the phases of trade cycle. It is a phase when aggregate demand declines significantly leading to cut in output and employment. On the other hand structural unemployment occurs due to structural changes in the economy. Change in technology render the old technologies unemployed. In addition to. this change in the pattern of demand, workers are thrown out.

Underemployment : It is that situation in which worker gets work for less than the time he can work. In other words, he remains unemployed for some months in a year or some hours everyday. Underemployment is of two types– (i) Visible underemployment, (ii) Invisible underemployment.

Voluntary unemployment refers to a situation in which a person who is able to work and gets work at current wages is not willing to work.

Difference between formal workers and informal workers:

C.

A tailor working in a garment industry is a hired worker.

B.

A very low percentage of female workforce in rural areas is engaged in primary sector.

A.

All those who are engaged in economic activities, in whatever capacity-high or low, are workers.

A.

Proof-readers working in a publishing house is a self-employed worker.

B.

 Informal workers are entitled to all social security benefits including pension, gratuity and provident fund.

D.

Regular workers are entitled to social security benefits including pension, gratuity and provident fund.