Pattern of Employment and Consumption Expenditure in India

Indian economy in the post-1991 period has grown at an average rate of over eight percent, an impressive rate considering the past performance. Employment opportunities have increased, though it has not been commensurate with the growth of labour force. Trend in employment in different sectors shows that the organized sector, which provides maximum security to the labour has witnessed only a marginal increase in employment, that too because of growing private sector. This analysis indicates that the declining rate of regular employment has been compensated by the rising rate of self employed and casual employment. In the case of females also, the proportion of casual labour has gone up. Thus, the degree of casualisation of workforce is especially felt among the rural workers. This clearly brings out the fact that in the two decades after 1991, casualisation of the labour force has gone up quite considerably, which will directly lead to the worsening of the income distribution in the country.