Labour Markets and Measurement

India is advancing social security for online gig workers, but this marks only a reactive step in addressing the evolving nature of informal work. JJN’s Renjini Rajagopalan writes for The Hindu highlighting the need for a more inclusive, universal social protection system to ensure no worker is left behind, especially as new worker categories emerge.

While tech platforms have eased our lives, too little attention is paid to a growing inequity. Capital gets to multiply, but gig workers are left at a disadvantage as they’re not treated as employees and lack labour protection under the law. This capital-labour imbalance needs to be addressed.

JJN’s President and Executive Director Sabina Dewan was a guest on The Work Life podcast by HT Smartcast. She spoke to Devina Sengupta about the employment crisis, the changing world of work, and how women are faring in this dynamic landscape.

Bihar’s economic growth trajectory has outpaced the national average. Yet women's employment outcomes reveal persisting challenges. This data story digs deeper and highlights the gender disparities that continue to persist in employment.

As the Union Government of India presents its interim budget, Sabina Dewan reviews the state of the country's labour market, and related policies. Theincrease in overall labour force participation is largely driven by an increase in rural female labour force participation, and comes against a backdrop of heighted rural distress with a consistent decline in inflation-adjusted real wages over the last five years. In light of shifting demographics, technological upheaval, climate change, and the pandemic, she makes the case for a robust policy response codified in a national employment strategy that can foster an ecosystem conducive to the growth of good jobs.

In this interview with Mint, Sabina Dewan highlights the reasons for India's low female labour force participation rates, and what must be done to improve women's employment. India lags many of its Asian peers in participation of females in the country's workforce. Improving women's labour force participation will lead to harnessing the massive productive potential of half of the country's population and help in yielding enormous dividends for the future of the country and economy.

Recent discontent in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar has been manifesting in a different kind of collective action: ‘job riots’. Perhaps this is unsurprising, given the employment crisis that plagues India, but the crisis in UP is in the spotlight because the state is in the throes of a high-stakes election.

Labour regulations in India are as sensitive a subject as they are complex and cumbersome. Workers are often rightly identified as the lifeblood of any organization or industry.

The Women, Work, and the Gig Economy research consortium - supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC), coordinated by JustJobs Network - has released a brief on methodological and ethical questions of how to adapt research to the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How the Covid crisis may impact the future of labor markets across the global South? Read Sabina Dewan's interview with Bot Populi on the potential impact of Covid crisis on global labor markets, the implications for gig work and on-demand location based services, and the possible outcomes for a post-Covid future of work. She also highlights on the roles of businesses and governments to ensure social protection for gig workers in light of the shifting trends in labour markets.