Tea, the most popular beverage in the world, is also an important industry for the rural economy and acts as one of the contributors to the internationally agreed-upon Sustainable Development Goals. A number of small tea growers, who play an important role in the tea production process, are not registered under the Tea Board of India. Unlike these small growers, the big tea manufacturers have certain clauses and sections in their code of conduct that reflect their adherence to some of the SDGs like equality in wages, adopting sustainable agriculture methods, and more. Such a commitment to the SDGs was difficult for the small growers, who have now, however, channelised their efforts in this direction.
From a labour perspective, wage rates are reflective of the market demand for different skills and the institutional structures. Also, wage rate is a better measure of the well-being of workers solely dependent on wage income. This paper notes persistent regularity in industry-level wage rates confirming the absence of a convergence behaviour. The stability of industry-level wage rates brings industrial reforms under the scanner for their implications on worker welfare. Wage convergence could be inhibited by the inter-industry movement of workers.
Through a series of data visualisations, the article attempts to illustrate the economic repercussions of the COVID-19-induced lockdown of 2020 on rural households. It focuses on how consumption, labour and income, healthcare, access to relief programmes and migration were effected by the lockdown in six major states.
Delhi’s homeless migrants work daily wage jobs that provide temporary housing on worksites, but they often endure abuse from their contractors and employers and receive low to no wages. The city’s approximately 200 shelters allot 18 square feet per resident, which is far below the National Urban Livelihoods Mission’s Scheme of Shelters for Urban Homeless guideline of 50 square feet per person. Labourers in Yamuna Pushta use congested shelters because the nearby jobs determine their survival. In this context, the homeless labourers’ working and shelter conditions, the skills they possess, and the barriers they face to decent working conditions are examined.
Based on secondary data, the paper discusses the changes in global unemployment and inequality between 1991 and 2019. The analysis reveals that the rate of unemployment and incidence of inequality have either increased or remained stubbornly high in almost all the countries under study.
This paper, based on the data from the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey, reflects on the lack of sustainable sources of livelihood and the phenomenon of multiple activities pursued simultaneously. A thorough analysis of the quarterly data suggests that in the rural areas, workers largely dependent on agriculture are compelled to shift to other activities in the off season. The nature of employment also varies, particularly in the urban areas. The occupational choice model estimated based on the quarterly data is indicative of changes in the marginal effect for workers of a given caste or an individual with a certain educational attainment. Certain social categories and workers with less educational attainments are more susceptible to changing probability of joining a particular activity and adopting multiple activities.
The idea of minimum wages makes sense inasmuch as it offers some protection against the vagaries of the labour market and fluctuations in inflation index in which the employer may not stick to the logic and ethics of labour contract between the employee and the employer.
