Female Employment and Earnings in Uttarakhand *

Abstract

Based on unit-level data from seven rounds of the Periodic Labour Force Surveys in India, our article examines the pattern of employment and earnings of the workforce in Uttarakhand between 2017–2018 and 2023–2024. With emphasis on rural women, it investigates whether the increase in employment is translating into improved economic conditions for its working people. The low and declining levels of real income of self-employed rural women—the main driver of the increase in female employment—manifest a worsening of their economic condition in the 6 years between 2017–2018 and 2023–2024. The article further explores the reasons underlying the persistence of self-employment as the dominant employment status among women. It highlights the asymmetry in gender roles within the household that leads to asymmetry in labour market outcomes outside the household. While men can, and indeed do, take up paid employment outside of their homes, the disproportionately high burden of unpaid domestic duties and caregiving work on women is a major obstacle that prevents them from taking up more lucrative paid employment opportunities, thereby confining them to the self-employed status. Simultaneously, the lack of remunerative employment opportunities for both men and women points towards an urgent need for state intervention to address the crucial issue of providing remunerative jobs, especially for women in a state where both farm and non-farm employment opportunities are extremely limited.