Features of Rural Underemployment in India:
Evidence from Nine Villages
Abstract: This paper examines aspects of the employment available to manual workers in rural India, using household-level data collected in nine villages in four States of India. In particular, it examines the social and gender composition of the labour force, and the extent of underemployment among manual workers. The results show that most Dalit and Adivasi workers in the villages were dependent on earnings from manual work. The number of days of employment – agricultural and non-agricultural – received by manual workers was very low. Women were confined to agricultural work, and to work within villages of residence. The paper also computes the number of days of work that would be necessary (at current wage rates) to ensure that households are able to reach minimal official poverty-line levels of earnings.