NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Economics Part B Chapter 6 Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues
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1. Who is a worker?
Ans. An individual who is doing some productive employment to earn a living is known as a worker.
2. Define worker-population ratio.
Ans. Worker Population Ratio is also known as Workforce Participation Rate (or ratio)
$$\text{Worker-Population Ratio}=\frac{\text{Workforce}}{\text{Total Population}}×100$$
Worker population ratio is explained as the percentage of total population which has actually taken part in productive activity. It is also knows as workers-participation ratio. It refers to the employment situation of the country. A high ratio signifies that the higher proportion of population is actively making contribution to the production of goods and services of a country.
3. Are the following workers — a beggar, a thief, a smuggler, a gambler? Why?
Ans. No, they cannot be considered as workers because they, are not indulged in any productive activity that contributes to the GDP of the country.
4. Find the odd man out
(i) owner of a saloon
(ii) a cobbler,
(iii) a cashier in Mother Dairy or milk cooperative society of your area
(iv) a tuition master
(v) transport operator
(vi) construction worker.
Ans. Tuition master and the owner of a saloon are the odd man out. This is because all others are hired while these two are self-employed. Tuition master and the owner of a saloon are engaged in their own business and own profession, whereas, the cobbler, the construction worker, the transport operator and the cashier in the Mother Dairy are hired and render their services to other in exchange of rewards in the form of salaries or wages.
5. The newly emerging jobs are found mostly in the _______ sector. (service/manufacturing).
Ans. Service
6. An establishment with four hired workers is known as ______ (formal/informal) sector establishment.
Ans. Informal
7. Raj is going to school. When he is not in school, you will find him working in his farm. Can you consider him as a worker? Why?
Ans. Raj can be certainly considered as a worker. This is due to the fact that his work raises the total output of the farm. He is a worker because, as implied by the definition of the term, a worker is someone who engages in economic activity or provides assistance to someone else engaged in economic activity and, as a result, increases the GDP of the nation.
8. Compared to urban women, more rural women are found working. Why?
Ans. Participation rate for women is found to be higher in rural areas as compared with urban areas. It is because in rural areas, poverty compels the women to seek employment. Due to lack of adequate education, women in rural areas find only less productive jobs and get low wages.
9. Meena is a housewife. Besides taking care of household chores, she works in the cloth shop which is owned and operated by her husband. Can she be considered as a worker? Why?
Ans. Yes, Meena can be considered as a worker if she is receiving any salary from her husband for working in his shop. Doing household chores is not covered under economic activity, as well as if she is working in her husband's shop without any remuneration then even, this activity of her will not be termed as economic activity and thus she will not be a worker.
10. Find the odd man out
(i) rickshaw puller who works under a rickshaw owner
(ii) mason
(iii) mechanic shop worker
(iv) shoeshine boy
Ans. Shoeshine boy because he works for himself while everyone else works for someone else.
11. The following table shows distribution of workforce in India for the year 1972-73. Analyse it and give reasons for the nature of workforce distribution. You will notice that the data is pertaining to the situation in India 50 years ago.
| S. No. | Golden Revolution | ||
| Male | Female | Total | |
| Rural | 125 | 70 | 195 |
| Urban | 32 | 7 | 39 |
Ans. In 1972-73, out of total workforce of 234 million, 195 million belong to rural areas and 39 million in urban areas. It reflects that 83% workforce used to live in rural areas. Gender differences also persisted then. In rural areas, males accounted for 125 million workforce and women for 70 million of workforce whereas in urban areas, 32 million males formed the workforce but women workforce was only 7 million. In the country, only 77 million female workers were there as compared to 157 million male workers. In other words, 32% of female workers were there and 68% male workers were there in the country in 1972-73. The data shows:
(i) Pre dominance of agriculture.
(ii) More male workers both in urban and rural areas.
(iii) Less female workers in both rural and urban areas. Also, female workers were much lesser in urban areas.
12. The following table shows the population and worker population ratio for India in 1999-2000. Can you estimate the workforce (urban and total) for India?
| Region | Estimation of Population ( in crores) | Workers Population Ratio | Estimated No. of Workers (in crores) |
| Rural | 71.88 | 41.9 | (71.88/100)×41.9= 30.12 |
| Urban | 28.52 | 33.7 | ? |
| Total | 100.40 | 39.5 | ? |
Ans. Estimated number of workers (in crores) for
urban =(28.52/100)×33.9.61
Total workforce = 30.12 + 9.61 = 39.73 crores.
13. Why are regular salaried employees more in urban areas than in rural areas?
Ans. Regular salaried workers are more prevalent in urban than rural locations because:
(i) Regular paid employees are individuals with a certain degree of education and professional training, both of which are unavailable in rural areas. Regular salaried employees must also have the necessary professional abilities.
(ii) Due to various supportive facilities, such as infrastructure development, transportation and communication facilities, etc., MNCs are only concentrated in urban areas. As a result, there are more career opportunities in cities.
(iii) Since agriculture is the main occupation of the rural population, they are unwilling to take the risk of working as regular salaried employees.
14. Why are less women found in regular salaried employment?
Ans. Less women work in regular salaried positions because:
(i) Women's literacy rates are quite low, and they lack the necessary professional qualifications for regular salaried employment.
(ii) Indian households discourage women from entering the workforce to take regular paying jobs in established organisations.
(iii) Female workers favour self-employment over traditional salary employment.
15. Analyse the recent trends in sectoral distribution of workforce in India.
Ans. Primary, secondary and tertiory sectors are collectively forms the occupational structure of an economy.
(i) Primary sector is the main source of employment for the majority of workers in India. 44.6% of the total work force is employed in primary sector while 24.4% and 31.0% of the total work force are employees in secondary sector and tertiary sector respectively. Majority of the workers are employed in primary sector followed by tertiory sector and secondary sector.
(ii) 59.8% of the population in the rural areas are employed in primary sector followed by 20.4% in secondary sector and 19.8% in tertiory sector. In the rural area primay sector is the prime source of employment
(iii) 6.6% of the population in the urban areas are employed in primary sector followed by 34.3% in secondary sector and 59.1% in tertiory sector. In the urban areas tertiory sector is the most important source of employment.
(iv) 40.7% of male population in India are engaged in primary sector followed by 32.8% in tertiory sector and 26.5% in secondary sector. Majorty of the male worker are employed in primary sector and tertiory sector
(v) 57.1% of female population in India or engaged in primary sector followed by 25.2% in tertory sector and 17.7% in secondary sector. Major of females worker are employed in primary sector and tertory sector.
We can conclude that majority of the work force is employed in primary sector. The share of service sector is also increasing which indicates that to it has significant share in the country’s GDP. It has helped to diversify the economy by reduce its dependence on agricilure and manufacture. Growth of the sector indicates that country’s has pool of educated and skilled workers.
16. Compared to the 1970s, ’there has hardly been any change in the distribution of workforce across various industries’. Comment.
Ans. It is true that not much of the changes have been observed in the distribution of workforce across various industries. The reason behind this is that the plans did not emphasise the need for development of:
(a) non-agricultural rural employment industries.
(b) small scale, village and cottage industries.
17. Do you think during 1950-2010, employment generated in the country is commensurate with the growth of GDP in India? How?
Ans. In last 50 years the employment generated in the country is not commensurate with the growth of GDP in India so we can call it as jobless growth.
Jobless growth is defined as a situation in which the overall growth rate of GDP in the economy is accelerated but it is not accompanied by commensurate expansion in employment opportunities.
It means that the economy is able to produce more goods and services without generating additional employment.
Since the starting of economic reforms is 1991 our economy is facing a gap between GDP growth rate and employment growth rate so we call it jobless growth.
18. Is it necessary to generate employment in the formal sector rather than in the informal sector? Why?
Ans. Yes, it is necessary to generate employment in formal sector rather than in the informal sector because:
(i) The formal sector provides social security benefits like pension, provident fund, gratuity, etc.
(ii) The workers and enterprises in the formal sector have regular income as compared to the informal sector.
(iii) Income earned in formal sector is more than that in the informal sector.
(iv) The formal sector enterprises use updated and better technologies than the informal sector.
(v) Generating employment in formal sector will help in reduction of poverty and income inequalities.
19. Victor is able to get work only for two hours in a day. Rest of the day, he is looking for work. Is he unemployed? Why? What kind of jobs could persons like Victor be doing?
Ans. No, he is not unemployed but he is under employed because his full capacity is not been utilised. So, he comes under the category of casual worker.
20. You are residing in a village. If you are asked to advise the village panchayat, what kinds of activities would you suggest for the improvement of your village which would also generate employment.
Ans. The activities that I will suggest for employment generation are:
(i) I will advise the village panchay at to consider the poverty alleviation programmes of government, which helps in employment generation opportunities.
(ii) To provide technical knowledge and modern know-how to the rural workers so that their productivity could be increased and they could accept the modernisation.
(iii) To make finance and credit available to ta cheap rates and in simple way so that the rural people can start small scale industries.
(iv) To develop community assets by generating wage employment through various activities like construction of houses, financial assistance for constructing houses, etc.
21. Who is a casual wage labourer?
Ans. A casual worker is one who works occasionally throughout the year. The employers do not regularly hire the casual employees, who labour for a few months and are paid for the task they perform. These are typically the unskilled labourers.
22. How will you know whether a worker is working in the informal sector?
Ans. Informal Sector:
(i) It is said to be an unorganised sector of an economy which consists of all those private sector enterprises which employ less than 10 workers. Example: agriculture labourers, farmers, owners of small enterprises, etc.
(ii) The workers of this sector are therefore called informal workers.
(iii) The workers are not entitled to any social security benefits.
(iv) The workers cannot form trade union as well and are also not protected by the labour laws.
