ADVERTISEMENTS:
After reading this article you will learn about Work Force Participation Rate (WFPR) in India from 1901 to 2001.
1. WFPR in the pre-independence period from 1901-31 was higher than in the post-independence period from 1951-91, except for the Census year 1961. The reason being the use of different definition of the ‘work force’ in the censuses.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In the pre-independence censuses, main workers were lumped with unpaid family workers. But in the 1951 Census, unpaid family workers were excluded from the main workers. That is why the WFPR in 1951 was 39.1 per cent as compared to more than 43 per cent in the pre-independence years (1901-1931). Again in 1961, WFPR increased to 43 per cent because persons whose main activity was not economic were included in the main workers.
WFPR declined to 34.2 per cent in 1971 because persons engaged in part time activities were excluded from the category of main workers. But since the Census of 1981, WFPR had risen to 36.7 per cent in 1981 to 37.7 per cent in 1991 and to 39.3 per cent in 2001. This has been due to the adoption of a rigorous definition of “worker” in terms of main workers and marginal workers.
2. In the case of WFPR by sex, it had been much higher for males as compared to females, as Table 3 reveals. This is because of the social status of women. They are generally not allowed to undertake productive work outside home. But since 1971, their work participation rate has been on the increase. It rose from 14.2 per cent in 1971 to 25.7 per cent in 2001. This is due to increasing literacy and declining birth rate.
Now more and more women are entering the industrial and service sectors. With urbanisation and expansion of dairy and poultry farming, fisheries, horticulture, etc., more women are participating in such activities. On the other hand, the work participation rate for men declined from 52.7 per cent in 1971 to 51.9 percent in 2001. This again shows that more women are taking the place of men in productive activities.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
3. The work participation rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. This is true both in the case of males and females. In 2001, WFPR for rural males was 52.4 per cent and that for rural females 31 per cent. On the other hand, it was 50.9 per cent for urban males and 11.6 per cent for urban females. Since 1971, the work participation rate for rural males has been on the decline.
It declined from 53.8 per cent in 1971 to 52.5 per cent in 1991. But it increased for rural females from 15.9 per cent to 27.2 per cent over the period. So far as urban males are concerned, their work participation rate was almost stationary at 49 per cent.
But for urban females, it increased from 7.2 per cent to 9.7 per cent over the period due to the spread of education. The reasons for higher work participation rate of both males and females in rural areas than in urban areas are larger concentration of population in rural areas and diversification of agriculture related activities like horticulture, pisciculture, dairy and poultry farming, etc.
Moreover, both men and women are engaged in productive activities in rural areas, whereas only men work and the majority of women remain at home in urban areas.
4. There are wide variations in WFPR among the States of India. In 1991, it ranged from 30.88 per cent in Punjab to 52.3 per cent in Sikkim. If the State and Union Territories are taken together, WFPR was the highest in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, being 53.25 per cent and the lowest in Lakshadweep, being 26.43 per cent.
In States like Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, etc. which are inhabited by tribes, the work participation rate of females was more than 30 per cent.
Whereas in other States like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, etc. the work participation rate of females was less than 10 per cent. The reason for such a wide variation is that in the former States more women are engaged in productive work than in other States.
5. The work participation rate in India is much lower than in the developed countries. In 1992, India’s WFPR was 38 per cent. But in developed countries it was much higher. For instance, it was 50.8 per cent in Japan, 48.63 per cent in America and 48.28 per cent in England in 1992.
The reasons for this wide gap are that the dependency ratio in India is much higher, unemployment is widespread, women are mostly illiterate and are also prevented from working out of home due to economic, social, and institutional factors.