The Employment-Unemployment Situation in India in the Nineteen Nineties: Some Results from the NSS 55th Round Survey (July 1999-June 2000)

Based on a comparative analysis of the NSS Employment-Unemployment Surveys for 1993-94 and 1999-2000, this paper examines, at the all-India level, the changes in: the size and structure of workforce; the extent of unemployment and under employment; in labour productivity and days worked; and, in wage earnings per worker and per head of population in rural and urban India. Key results include, a slower growth of work force relative to that of population, a reduction in the share and size of the work force in agriculture and in community, social and personal services; and, widespread gains in labour productivity getting translated into equally widespread and significant growth in average wage earnings per worker and per capita.

Employment, Wages and Poverty in the Organized and the Unorganized Segments of the Non-Agricultural Sector in India; All-India, 2000-2005

Analysing the Unit Record Data from the NSS 55th and 61st Round Employment-Unemployment Surveys, the Organized Sector Workforce in non-agriculture is shown to be larger than the corresponding DGE&T estimates by 16.5 million in 2004-05 and to have increased by 5.4 million between 2000 and 2005 instead of the 1.6 decrease indicated by the corresponding DGE&T estimates. Examining some features of employment contracts of the regular wage/salary workers who account for 88 percent of the organized sector workforce, it is shown that between 14 to 27 million of the 41.5 million workers in organized non-agriculture are perhaps better labeled as Informal Workers who are without access to a set of social security benefits though they are located in the formal sector. Also presented are our estimates of workforce in the unorganized segment of non-agriculture in the country as a whole as also those in urban India who constitute the Urban Informal Sector. An analysis of labour productivity in the organized-unorganized segments of broad industry groups for 1999-2000 and 2004-05 is followed by an examination of differences across the organized-unorganized divide in average daily earnings and in the poverty status of adult workers in non-agricultural activities for 2004-05Employment in organized sector, Urban Informal Sector, Labour Productivity, Wage Differentials, Poverty status of workers.

MEASUREMENT OF EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN INDIA: SOME ISSUES

This paper offers a review of the concepts and definitions used in the NSS Employment-Unemployment Surveys (EUS, for short) which have remained virtually unchanged since they were introduced in the NSS 27th Round (1972-73) based on the analysis and recommendations in the Report of the Expert Group on Unemployment Estimate – better known as the Dantwala Committee Report (GOI, 1970). It also examines critically the employment-unemployment estimates derived/derivable from EUS and the use of such estimates for planning and policy.

ON BACKWARDNESS AND FAIR ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA: SOME RESULTS FROM NSS 55TH ROUND SURVEYS 1999-2000

Against the backdrop of policy of reservation of seats in Higher Education for the Other Backward Castes in India, this paper examines two inter-related yet distinct issues: (i) the use of economic criteria for assessing the backwardness of different social groups and (ii) assessment of fairness of access to higher education of an identified “backward” social group. On an analysis of the NSS 55th Round Surveys for 1999-2000 we show that on a range of economic criteria there is a clear hierarchy across (essentially) caste-based social groups with the Scheduled Castes (in Urban India) and the Scheduled Tribes (in Rural India) at the bottom, the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the middle and the non-SC/ST Others at the top. However, for the poor among them, there is more of a continuum across caste-groups with surprisingly small differences between the OBCs and the non-SC/ST Others. On the issue of fair access to higher education, it is argued that the extent of under-(or over-) representation of a social group can only be judged by a comparison of a social group’s share in enrollments in a given level of education with its share in the population eligible for entry into that level of education. And it is shown that for the OBCs as a group, and especially for over 70 percent of them who are above the poverty line, the extent of under-representation of the OBCs in enrollments at the under-graduate and post-graduate levels is less than 5 percent. We conclude, therefore, that a 27 percent quota for the OBCs, which would effectively raise their share in enrollments to over 50 percent when their share in the eligible population is 30 percent or less, is totally unjustified.India, Social Groups, Backwardness, Poverty, Caste-based Reservations, Fair Access to Higher Education.

Growth of Work Opportunities In India: 1983 - 1999-2000

Against the backdrop of concerns about the slow down in the growth of total work force in the 1990s (relative to the 1980s) and of “jobless growth”, this paper offers a more nuanced assessment of the growth of different types of employment opportunities. This is done through an explicit focus on employment quality -- by reference to location of workers in non-poor households -- rather than simply focusing on the change in the number of workers. Also, based on a fresh assessment of the DGE and T estimates and NSS-Survey based estimates of organised sector employment, the 1990s are shown to be a period of accelerated growth in the number of regular wage/salaried workers rather than of stagnation or decline in the growth of jobs.Work Opportunities, Jobless Growth, Employment Quality, Employment Structure.

Distinct stick-slip modes in adhesive polymer interfaces

Stick-slip, manifest as intermittent tangential motion between two solids, is a well-known friction instability that occurs in a number of natural and engineering systems. In the context of adhesive polymer interfaces, this phenomenon has often been solely associated with Schallamach waves, which are termed slow waves due to their low propagation speeds. We study the dynamics of a model polymer interface using coupled force measurements and high speed \emph{in situ} imaging, to explore the occurrence of stick-slip linked to other slow wave phenomena. Two new waves---slip pulse and separation pulse---both distinct from Schallamach waves, are described. The slip pulse is a sharp stress front that propagates in the same direction as the Schallamach wave, while the separation pulse involves local interface detachment and travels in the opposite direction. Transitions between these stick-slip modes are easily effected by changing the sliding velocity or normal load. The properties of these three waves, and their relation to stick-slip is elucidated. We also demonstrate the important role of adhesion in effecting wave propagation.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

Poverty Among Social and Economic Groups In India in the Nineteen Nineties.

This paper examines the levels and changes in poverty indicators of the rural and urban population in India disaggregated by social and economic groups. The analysis is based on the comparable estimates of poverty on the mixed reference period computed from the unit record data for the 50 th (1993-94) and the 55 th (1999-2000) rounds of the Consumer Expenditure Surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation. The issue is how far different social and economic groups shared the overall decline in poverty in the 1990s. Four poverty indicators are considered, namely, headcount ratio,the depth and severity measures (PGI and FGT*) as also the absolute size of the poor population. The social groups most vulnerable to poverty have been identified to be the scheduled caste households and the scheduled tribe households with both these groups having above average levels of poverty indicators in the rural and the urban population.Among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the agricultural labour households (rural) and the casual labour households (urban) each having the highestlevels of the poverty indicators in their respective population segments. In terms of changes in poverty in the 1990s, it is found that while the scheduled caste and the agricultural labour (rural) and the casual labour (urban) households experienced declines in poverty on par with the total population, the scheduled tribe households fared badly in both the segments. A further disaggregated analysis brings out the consequences for poverty of combined social and economic vulnerabilities. The paper also presents poverty indicators adjusted for between-(economic and social) group disparity and discusses the implications of the empirical results for the design of a strategy for poverty reduction.India, Poverty, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes, Labour Households

Pay Me Later: Inside Debt and Its Role in Managerial Compensation

Inside debt, such as pensions and deferred compensation, constitutes a widely-used form of executive compensation, yet the valuation and incentive effects of these instruments have been almost entirely overlooked by prior work. Our paper initiates this line of research by studying CEO pension arrangements in a sample of 237 large capitalization firms. Among our findings are that CEO compensation in most large cap firms exhibits a balance between debt- and equity-based incentives, with the balance shifting systematically away from equity and toward debt as CEOs growolder; that annual increases in pension entitlements represent about 10% of overall compensation for the CEOs in our sample, and about 15% for CEOs aged 61 to 65; that CEOs with high debt-based incentives manage their firms conservatively to reduce default risk; and that pension plan compensation strongly influences patterns of CEO turnover and CEO cash compensation.CEO pensions; inside debt; deferred compensation