Women’s Workforce in Assam: Insights on Composition and Determinants from PLFS Data

Abstract

This article attempts to analyse the composition and determinants of workforce participation among the females in Assam, a relatively less researched part of India. Unit-level data has been extracted from Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2018–2019, and a binary logistic regression model has been used to identify some of the socio-economic and demographic factors that influence the odds of Assamese females being a part of the workforce in both the rural and the urban sectors along with the extent of their influence. The results show that age, educational qualification, marital status and social group have significant impact on workforce participation. The majority of Assamese women in the rural areas are found to be engaged in the growing of tea, while in the urban areas, they are primarily employed in the education sector. Moreover, though a bulk of the women workforce in Assam are engaged in regular wage/salaried forms of employment, more than one-third of them do not receive any social security benefit.

Keywords

Women Assam tea workforce periodic labour force survey social security care economy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. (2020). Unemployment rate in India. https://unemploymentinindia.cmie.com/kommon/bin/sr.php?kall=wshowtab&tabno=0002

Das

K. S.

, & Mishra

D. K.

(2018). Woman and work in rural Assam: Pattern and determinants. Journal of Social and Economic Development, 20(16). 10.1007/s40847-018-0062-6

Government of Assam. (2014). Assam human development report. United Nations Development Programme.

Hirway

(2015). Unpaid work and the economy: Linkages and their implications. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 58(1), 1–21.

Kapoor

(2020). Covid-19 and the state of India’s labour market (ICRIER Policy Series No. 18). Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

Ministry of Education, Government of India. (2020). All India survey on higher education 2019–2020. https://aishe.gov.in/aishe/viewDocument.action?documentId=276

Mishra K

, Upadhyay

, & Sarma

(2012). The unfolding crisis in Assam’s tea plantations: employment and occupational mobility. Routledge.

National Statistical Office. (2020). Annual report: Periodic labour force survey 2018–2019. National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.

National Statistical Office. (2020). Time use in India-2019. National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.

10.

National Sample Survey Organisation. (2006). Employment and unemployment in India, 2004–2005, NSS 61^st round (Report No. 515, Parts I & II). Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.

11.

National Sample Survey Organisation. (2014). Employment and unemployment situation in India, 2011–2012 (Report No. 554). Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.

12.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. (2019). World population prospects 2019: Data Booklet (ST/ESA/SER.A/424). United Nations.

13.

World Bank. (2019). Global economic prospects: Darkening skies. A World Bank Group Flagship Report. World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/307751546982400534/Global-Economic-Prospects-Darkening-Skies.