NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Economics Indian Economic Development Chapter 6: Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues

Chapter at a glance

Exercise Questions

Answer

A worker is a person who is engaged in any economic activity, i.e. an activity that contributes to the gross national product (or GDP). This includes self-employed people, hired workers (regular and casual), and those who help in family farms or enterprises, even if temporarily absent due to illness or bad weather.

Anyone engaged in an economic activity that contributes to GDP is a worker.

Answer

The worker–population ratio is the number of workers expressed as a percentage of the total population:

It is an indicator of the employment situation of a country: a higher ratio means a larger share of the people are engaged in producing goods and services.

Workers as a percentage of total population: (workers ÷ population) × 100.

Answer

No. None of them is a worker, because their activities do not contribute to the gross national product:

• A beggar only receives money from others; no good or service is produced.
• A thief, smuggler or gambler gains income through illegal or unproductive activities, which only transfer income and add nothing to national output.

No; their activities are not economic activities and add nothing to national output.

Answer

The odd man out is (iii) the cashier in Mother Dairy or a milk cooperative society. All the others are generally self-employed or casual workers in the informal sector, whereas the cashier is a regular salaried employee in the formal sector.

3. The cashier: a regular salaried formal-sector employee; the others are self-employed or casual informal workers.

Answer

Service sector.

Answer

Establishments with fewer than 10 hired workers are in the informal sector.

Informal sector establishment.

Answer

Yes, Raj can be considered a worker. When he works on the farm he is engaged in an economic activity (agricultural production) that contributes to national output. People who help in family farms, even part-time, are counted as (self-employed) workers.

Yes; his farm work is an economic activity contributing to output.

Answer

1. Rural families are poorer, so women have to work to supplement family income.
2. Many rural women work on family farms and in allied activities (livestock), which are easily combined with household duties.
3. In urban areas, men earn higher incomes, and women often do not need to or are not allowed to work outside.
4. Urban jobs mostly need higher education and skills, which many urban women lack; social restrictions and safety concerns also limit them.

Rural poverty and easy availability of farm and allied work draw more rural women into work, while urban jobs need skills and incomes of men are higher.

Answer

Yes. Her household chores are not counted as economic activity, but her work in the cloth shop is an economic activity that contributes to national output. People who assist in family enterprises are self-employed workers (unpaid family helpers), even if they get no separate wage.

Yes; helping in the family cloth shop is an economic activity, so she is a self-employed worker.

Answer

The odd man out is (iv) the shoeshine boy. He is self-employed, while the rickshaw puller (under an owner), the mason and the mechanic shop worker are all hired (wage) workers working for someone else.

4. The shoeshine boy, who is self-employed; the others are hired workers.

Answer

Analysis.

• Total workforce = 195 + 39 = 234 million. About 83 % (195/234) of workers lived in rural areas.
• Men form the larger part of the workforce in both areas.
• Women make up about 35 % of rural workers (69/195) but only about 18 % of urban workers (7/39).

Reasons

1. In 1972-73 India was mainly an agricultural, rural economy; most people lived and worked in villages, and urbanisation and industrialisation were limited.
2. Rural women work on family farms and in allied activities due to poverty, and this work is easy to combine with home duties.
3. Urban women had less education and fewer suitable jobs, and faced social restrictions; urban men earned enough to support families.

Most workers (about 83 %) were rural and most were men; rural women worked far more than urban women, because the economy was agrarian and rural households were poor.

Answer

Given: urban population = 28.52 crore, WPR = 33.7; total population = 100.40 crore, WPR = 39.5.

Formula: Workers = Population × WPR ÷ 100

Urban workers crore

Total workers crore

(Check: 30.12 + 9.61 = 39.73 crore; the small difference arises from rounding of the ratios.)

Urban workforce ≈ 9.61 crore; total workforce ≈ 39.66 crore.

Answer

1. Urban areas have more factories, offices, banks, schools, hospitals and other formal establishments that hire workers on a regular basis.
2. Urban people are generally better educated and skilled, suiting regular jobs.
3. In rural areas most people work on their own farms (self-employed) or as casual agricultural labourers, since farm work is seasonal.

Formal enterprises offering regular jobs are concentrated in towns, and urban people have the education they require; rural work is mostly self-employment or casual.

Answer

1. Regular jobs need education and skills, and women in India have lower literacy and training.
2. Social and family restrictions: household responsibilities, limits on mobility and working away from home.
3. Discrimination in hiring and wages.
4. Concerns about safety at workplaces and during travel.

Lower education and skills, family duties, social restrictions, discrimination and safety concerns.

Answer

• The share of the primary sector (agriculture) in total employment has been declining, but it still employs the largest share, close to half of workers.
• The shares of the secondary sector (manufacturing, construction) and the tertiary (service) sector have been rising.
• Much of the shift out of agriculture has been into construction and services, often as casual and informal workers.
• In urban areas services are the main employer; in rural areas, agriculture.

Agriculture’s share is falling though it still employs the most; industry (especially construction) and services are slowly rising.

Answer

• In 1972-73 about 74 % of workers were in the primary sector; decades later the primary sector still employs close to half of the workforce. So there has been only a slow shift away from agriculture.
• The secondary and service sectors have grown in their share of GDP much faster than in their share of employment.
• Reasons: industry and services have become capital-intensive, creating few jobs; rural workers lack the skills for new jobs; and population growth has kept agriculture crowded.

Hence the structure of output has changed far more than the structure of employment.

The workforce shifted out of agriculture only slowly, because industry and services grew in output without creating proportionate jobs.

Answer

No.

• During 1950–2010, GDP grew positively and faster in later decades, but employment grew at a much slower rate (about 2 % a year).
• In the later period (1990s onwards) the gap widened: GDP grew rapidly but employment growth slowed down. This is called jobless growth: more output produced without a proportionate increase in jobs.
• Reasons: capital-intensive, labour-saving technology, and the growth of services that need few workers.

No; GDP grew much faster than employment, especially after 1990, leading to “jobless growth”.

Answer

Yes, it is desirable.

1. Formal-sector workers enjoy job security, regular wages and social security (provident fund, pension, health benefits).
2. They are protected by labour laws and can form trade unions.
3. Informal workers get low and irregular incomes, no protection, and work in poor conditions.
4. Formal jobs usually have higher productivity, and they bring workers into the tax and welfare net.

However, the informal sector employs the vast majority today, so the government must also extend social security to informal workers while expanding formal jobs.

Yes; formal jobs give security, regular pay, social security and legal protection, which informal jobs lack.

Answer

Victor is not fully unemployed; he is underemployed. He works for two hours (so he is counted as a worker), but he is willing and looking for more work and cannot find it.

People like Victor usually do casual, part-time informal jobs: loading and unloading in markets, daily-wage construction work, street vending, delivery work, helping in shops, or seasonal farm work.

He is underemployed, not fully unemployed; such people do casual daily-wage, part-time or seasonal informal jobs.

Answer

1. Infrastructure works under MGNREGA: roads, ponds, check dams, wells, canals, tree planting.
2. Allied activities: dairy, poultry, fisheries, beekeeping, horticulture.
3. Agro-processing units: food processing, oil mills, rice mills, jaggery.
4. Cottage and small industries: handicrafts, weaving, pottery, tailoring.
5. Forming self-help groups with micro-credit for small businesses.
6. Skill training centres, computer and IT kiosks, and village tourism.
7. Building schools and health centres, which create both services and jobs.

Public works (roads, ponds, irrigation), allied activities, agro-processing, cottage industries, SHGs and skill training.

Answer

A casual wage labourer is a worker who is hired on a daily or temporary basis, works on others’ farms or enterprises, and is paid a wage for the work done (daily or per piece). They do not get regular employment, job security or social security benefits. Examples: construction labourers, farm labourers, loaders.

A worker hired temporarily or daily by others and paid a wage, without job security or benefits.

Answer

A worker is in the informal sector if:

1. They work in a private enterprise employing fewer than 10 hired workers, or are self-employed in farming or small business.
2. They do not get regular income or a written contract.
3. They are not covered by labour laws and have no social security (provident fund, gratuity, pension).
4. They cannot form strong trade unions; work is irregular.

Workers in the public sector and in private establishments with 10 or more hired workers are in the formal sector.

If they work in an enterprise with fewer than 10 hired workers or are self-employed, without regular income, legal protection or social security.

Topic checklist

• Worker and worker–population ratio
• Status of workers: self-employed, regular, casual
• Sectoral distribution and its trends
• Jobless growth, casualisation and informalisation
• Formal vs informal sector
• Unemployment and government programmes

Total questions answered: 22 of 22