Globalization Labor Markets And Inequality In India

India's increased exposure to world markets and relaxation of domestic controls has given a spurt to the GDP growth rate, but its impact on poverty, inequality and employment have been controversial. This book examines these aspects of the post-reform scene, discerning the changes in trends which the new developments have created.

India started on a program of reforms, both in its external and internal aspects, sometime in the mid-eighties and going on into the nineties. While the increased exposure to world markets (‘globalization’) and relaxation of domestic controls has undoubtedly given a spurt to the GDP growth rate, its impact on poverty, inequality and employment have been controversial. This book examines in detail these aspects of post-reform India and discerns the changes and trends which these new developments have created. Providing an original analysis of unit-level data available from the quinquennial National Sample Surveys, the Annual Surveys of Industries and other basic data sources, the authors analyse and compare the results with other pieces of work in the literature. As well as describing the overall situation for India, the book highlights regional differences, and looks at the major industrial sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and tertiary services. The important topic of labor market institutions - both for the formal or organized and the unorganized sectors - is considered and the possible adverse effect on employment growth of the regulatory labor framework is examined carefully. Since any reform of this framework must go hand in hand with better state intervention in the informal sector to have any chance of acceptance politically, some of the major initiatives in this area are critically explored. Overall, this book will be of great interest to development economists, labour economists and specialists in South Asian Studies.

This book explores the effects of product market and labour market reforms on firms, labour institutions and labour rights in the economic and industrial relations system in India. India has over the years liberalized its economy through a broad range of reforms concerning the product market and complementing these it has also sought to reform the labour market and the industrial relations system. The book assesses the impact of these reforms on both the formal and informal labour markets in India, critically examines the labour processes and uncovers/describes precarious conditions of labour in various industries and occupations, and analyzes the dynamics involved in the making of industrial, employment and labour policies in contemporary India.

This report is the first of a series of biennial publications by the Institute for Human Development and the Indian Society of Labour Economics. It provides an overview of the labor market and employment outcomes that the Indian economy has delivered as it globalized. Rapid economic growth in India over the last quarter century has reduced extreme poverty and modestly improved the quality of life of a large segment of the population. However, large employment deficits remain: most jobs created are of poor quality and low productivity in the informal economy. Further, the gains from growth have been distributed unevenly. Growing inequalities and vulnerabilities have generated widespread insecurity of livelihoods and highlighted weaknesses in prevailing social protection systems. This report concludes that structural changes are slow and difficult, and the potential for equitable growth remains unrealized, hampered by policy inertia, resistance from social and economic interests and rigidities of existing systems and perspectives. The report assesses the gains and losses for labor in the first round of globalization and reveals many markers of progress as well as deep challenges. Effective, responsive, fair, and comprehensive labor and employment policy is vital for sustainable and inclusive development: this is the central message of this report.

Two of the world's leading economists discuss fundamental issues of inequality and economic growth.

Over the past two decades, the percentage of the world’s population living on less than a dollar a day has been cut in half. How much of that improvement is because of—or in spite of—globalization? While anti-globalization activists mount loud critiques and the media report breathlessly on globalization’s perils and promises, economists have largely remained silent, in part because of an entrenched institutional divide between those who study poverty and those who study trade and finance. Globalization and Poverty bridges that gap, bringing together experts on both international trade and poverty to provide a detailed view of the effects of globalization on the poor in developing nations, answering such questions as: Do lower import tariffs improve the lives of the poor? Has increased financial integration led to more or less poverty? How have the poor fared during various currency crises? Does food aid hurt or help the poor? Poverty, the contributors show here, has been used as a popular and convenient catchphrase by parties on both sides of the globalization debate to further their respective arguments. Globalization and Poverty provides the more nuanced understanding necessary to move that debate beyond the slogans.

This paper studies the economic effects of legal amendments on different types of labor laws. It examines the effects of amendments to labor dispute laws and amendments to job security legislation. It also identifies the effects of legal amendments related to the most contentious regulation of all-Chapter Vb of the Industrial Disputes Act-which stipulates that firms with 100 or more employees cannot retrench workers without government authorization. The analysis finds that laws that increase job security or increase the cost of labor disputes substantially reduce registered sector employment and output but do not increase the labor share. Labor-intensive industries, such as textiles, are the hardest hit by laws that increase job security while capital-intensive industries are most affected by higher labor dispute resolution costs. The paper concludes that widespread and increasing use of contract labor may have brought some output and employment gains but did not make up for the adverse effects of job security and dispute resolution laws.

As developing and transition economies enter the next phase of reforms, labor market issues increasingly come to the fore. With the increased competition from globalization, the discussion is shifting to the need for greater labor market flexibility and the creation of "good" jobs. Moreover, the greater actual and perceived insecurity in labor markets has generated a new agenda on how to structure safety nets and labor market regulation. The older questions of the links between the formal and informal labor market, reappear with new dimensions and significance. More generally, it is clear that an accurate understanding of how labor market structures function is essential if we are to analyze alternative policy proposals in the wake of these concerns. Oddly enough, in spite of this great importance, there are no recent monographs that bring together rigorous studies produced by academic researchers on these various issues. This book fills that gap. Under the steely editorship of Ravi Kanbur and Jan Svejnar, the contributors flourish in their attempts to enliven these debates.