time use in economic and non economic activities by men and women in a few villages in india

Division of Agricultural Economics, IARI

Time use in economic and non economic activities by men and women in a few villages in India

A Amarender ReddyPrincipal Scientist(Agricultural Economics)

Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New DelhiAnugula N Reddy

National University of Educational Planning and Administration New Delhi


Objectives

• To assess the labour supply and its determining factors in various economic and non-economic activities in rural India

• To examine the influence of different socioeconomic and personal characteristics of workers on men’s and women’s wage rates

• To examine the determinants of labour market segmentation in different occupations.


Data

• The data from Rural India. • 18 selected villages in 5 states (Andhra

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka).

• The data were collected every 15 days by resident field investigators.


Methodology • Historical data from 1975 to 2010 for 6 villages.• 948 men and 631 women in the 18 villages in 2010.• Variations in hours worked and in wage earnings by gender,

level of education, economic activity (self-employed in agriculture, rearing livestock, self-employed in non-agricultural work) and non-economic activity (domestic duties) were analysed.

• The paper also examines the segmentation of labour among major occupations (based on time spent on activities in 2010), namely: (a) self-employed in agriculture; (b) non-farm labour; (c) rearing livestock; (d) regular employment (receiving a monthly salary); (e) attending educational institutions; (f) attending to household domestic duties; (g) small business work; and (h) farm labour.


• Hours worked = f( physical capital of workers, human capital of workers, social group, personal and work-related variables, location-specific variables)

• Wage received = f(physical capital of workers, human capital of workers, social group, personal and work-related variables, location-specific variables)

• Occupational category = f(physical capital of workers, human capital of workers, social group, personal and work-related variables, location-specific variables)


Whether parents occupation will determine children's occupation? Occupational Mobility Matrix (% of male workers) for whose occupation is cultivation and agricultural labourer in 1975 (males)

Daughter marriage, health shocks, other shocks – downward movement


Pluri-activity farm households


Work days including domestic work (1975-2010)19

7519

7619

7719

7819

7919

8019

8119

8219

8319

84

2006

2008

2009

2010

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

2006

2008

2009

2010

female male

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

work days per year


Type of activity and feminisationType of work % of time feminisation

harvesting 3773 (machine

harvesting by men)weeding 24 70irrigation 8 6

land preparation 8 22 planting 5 60threshing 5 60

fertilizer application 2 73interculture 2 1

pesticide application 1 12

manure application 1 33


Independent variables considered modelVariable Rationale for inclusion

Hours worked per year

Wage rate(Rs/day) Determine supply of labour

Farm size (acre)Indicator for physical capital, source of employment on own farm

Irrigated area (acre) Indicator for land productivityValue of assets (Rs.1000) Economic status of householdsCaste dummies Indicator of social discrimination

Backward caste (reference group)Scheduled tribe Scheduled caste

Forward caste Religion dummies Discrimination based on religion

Muslims (reference group)Christian Christian’s

Hindu Majority Gender (0-women, 1-men)

Gender discrimination

Years of schooling Human capital through education

Experience(age-years of schooling-5)Human capital through experience


Work type /item Female Male % over female

(I) Hours in economic activities 1201 1882 56.7

Paid work 640 1082 69

Own farm 270 442 62

Own livestock 265 328 24

Own non-farm work26 31 33

(II)Hours with non-economic activities (other)1461 458 -68.7

Domestic duties 1368 338 -75

Seriously ill 47 31 -33

Unemployed 46 88 83

Hours with economic and non-economic activities (I+II) 2662 2340 -12.1

Wage income (Rs /year) 7920 27000 241Wage rate ( Rs/8 hours) 99 200 102

Imputed income (all activities) 32967 42551 29Average level of education 5 8

Labour supply in different activities (hours/year)


Average number of paid hours, 2010, men and womenSex Type of work paid hours wage rate/day paid wage income

( Rs/annum)

Men Non-farm 812 222 22 530

Farm 271 132 4 470

Total 1 082 200 27 000

Women Non-farm

267 107 3 550

Farm 373 94 4 363

Total 640 99 7 920


Work-hours and wage rates by level of education, 2010Sex/level of education

Economic activity Non-economic activity

Other Total hours (2010)Paid

work Self-employed in agriculture

Rearing livestock

Self-employed in non-agricultural work

Total Domestic duties

Unemployed

Men

Illiterate 1 100 473 499 26 2 098 365 134 2 623

up to 5 years of schooling

1 110 478 427 26 2 041 355 103 2 52512 years

997 391 175 41 1 604 272 57 1 954Graduate or above 977 370 195 21 1 563 334 41 1 959

Total1 064 442 324 26 1 856 350 93 2 325

Women Illiterate

833 319 344 31 1 527 1 239 57 2 880up to 5 years of schooling

714 329 236 31 1 310 1 578 62 2 98111-12 years of schooling

391 206 144 21 762 1 254 0 2 057Graduate or above 257 62 144 31 494 1 018 46 1 589

Total 627 262 262 26 1 177 1 336 51 2 615


Average work-hours by social group (men), 2010Social group Economic activity Non-economic activity

Other Average reported hours (2010)Paid

workSelf-employed in agriculture

Rearing livestock

Self-employed in non-agricultural work

Total Domesticduties

Unemp

loyed

Caste group

Other backward classes

1 100 433 334 26 1 893 360 94 2 372Scheduled tribes

918 448 292 47 1 705 334 136 2 195Scheduled castes

1 361 203 229 21 1 814 297 89 2 221Forward castes

959 605 396 21 1 981 302 21 2 325Religious group

Muslim

1 549 532 214 10 2 305 318 26 2 675Christian

1 392 318 501 10 2 221 344 52 2 643Hindu

1 069 443 323 21 1 856 349 94 2 320


Distribution of individuals by main occupation (%)

Self-employed in agriculture

Non-farm labour

Rearing livestock

Regular employment

Attending domestic

duties

Small business

Farmlabour

Total

Gender Men 40 12 3 8 1 8 10 100Women 29 3 11 2 21 2 21 100Education Illiterate 42 8 10 1 9 2 25 1001-5 years of schooling

44 6 6 1 14 6 21 100

Graduate or above

15 1 1 22 7 7 2 100

Landholdings Medium 45 7 6 5 10 4 10 100Large 51 2 8 6 11 3 3 100Landless 8 13 6 7 10 8 31 100Age group (years)

15 to 24 17 10 4 5 10 4 11 10025 to 60 42 7 8 6 10 6 18 100Caste group Scheduled castes 18 15 4 8 9 5 28 100Forward castes 35 3 7 7 20 7 6 100Total 35 8 7 5 11 5 15 100


all economic activities

bWage rate -0.65Farm size 13.09Irrigated area -34.65Value of other assets 1.42Borrowings 0.94Caste dummies (OBC comparison group)

Scheduled tribes -128.13Scheduled caste -149.65

Forward caste -43.64Religion dummies

Other minority 78.82Hindu -123.71

Gender (male =1) 380.39Years of schooling -17.57Experience 24.97Experience2 -0.62Arm circumference 28.08Adjusted R2 0.27

Labour supply equation


log of wage rates women men Coefficient Coefficient Farm size -0.010 0.015Irrigated area 0.024 0.023Value of assets 0.001 -0.002Caste dummies (OBC comparison group)

Scheduled tribe -0.092 0.089Scheduled caste -0.018 -0.043

Forward caste 0.053 0.204Religion dummies (Muslim comparison group)

Other minority -0.085 0.428Hindu 0.065 0.173

Years of schooling -0.016 0.001Experience -0.005 0.024

Experience2 0.000 -0.001

Main occupation Non-farm labour 0.029 0.135

Livestock rearing 0.120 -0.044Regular employment 0.013 0.237

Domestic work -0.089 0.097Petty business -0.115 0.351farm labourer 0.046 0.037

Adj R2 0.34 0.45

Determinants of wage rates


Self-employed in agriculture

Non-agricultural labour

Livestock rearing

Regular employment

Attending domestic duties

Petty business

Farm labour

RRR RRR RRR RRR RRR RRR

Farm size 1.1 0.8 0.8 0.8 1.1 1.1 1.0

Irrigated area 1.2 1.9 3.9 4.3 1.0 0.81.0

Value of assets 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.01.0

Caste dummies(OBC comparison group)

Scheduled tribes 0.5 0.3 1.7 1.0 0.4 0.0 1.0

Scheduled caste 0.6 3.4 0.3 4.4 0.8 0.61.0

Forward caste 1.4 0.0 2.5 4.7 2.6 1.31.0

Religion dummies (other religion)Hindu 3.8 0.4 8.0 8.0 0.3 0.1 1.0

Years of schooling 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.5 1.4 1.21.0

Experience 1.1 1.2 0.9 1.3 0.9 1.0 1.0

Adj. R2 30.0

Occupational choice model


Conclusion Men participated mostly in economic activities, while women in non-

economic activities, such as domestic duties.

Low women wage rates for the same work, with outdated machinery

Low participation of women in paid work

Gender segmentation of labour (farm and non-farm; paid and unpaid)

Unemployed educated youth.


Conclusion cont..•Economic activities more dependent on land and assets ownership•higher education little relevance (only a few regular employment (teachers, nurses, record keepers or health workers) for women.•Agriculture dominate with more seasonality•Construction and small businesses (self-employment), retail shops, agro-processing, the repair, truck driver- requires only semi-skilled workers with little education.


Conclusion cont.• Rural labour markets in India were highly

segmented based on caste and gender• labour market for men is developing, but slowly. • The driving forces- semi-skilled and middle-level

education(men), along with the development of the rural non-farm sector.

• Women- informal and low status employment.


Policy implications

1. Enhancing the ownership of such assets as land and irrigated

areas by providing loans low income groups

2. Enhancing the semi-skills and middle-education emerging

occupations, such as the repair of mobile telephones and electric

motors, and work in computer centres

3. Increasing women’s empowerment by reducing social rigidities in

order to enhance women’s participation in economic activities.


Women employment • Men’s participation in economic activities was higher than

women. There was a huge gap in monetary income between men and women .

• If we take in to account domestic duties also, women work more hours per week compared to men,.

• The segregation of the rural labour market by sex was particularly visible in rural labour markets in India with men shifting to non-farm occupations with higher wage rates, while women still depend on farm work (either self-employed or as casual labourers and domestic duties).

• Among women, levels of education and experience have little influence on the choice of occupation or the quality of employment.


Policy options

• Farm machinery in harvesting and weeding to improve women productivity rather than replace women in agriculture

• Skill and entrepreneur development with focus on middle educated rural youth


Policy options – small farmers

• Encouragement to small farmers to increase their off-farm income and employment opportunities.

• Small farmers and agricultural labourers needs to be given easy loan coupled with skill training to earn additional income from non-farm activities.


Thanks

time use in economic and non economic activities by men and women in a few villages in india

Economy & Finance