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Current Economic Statistics and Review For the Week 
Ended September 20, 2008 (38th Weekly Report of 2008)

 

Theme of the week:

 

Economic Census -4: Employment *  

 

  1. Introduction

Economic Census has been conducted periodically by Central Statistical Organization (CSO) to gather information regarding various aspects of enterprises and persons employed by them, the latest being the fifth Census conducted in 2005. The first Census conducted in 1977 was of modest one, which gathered information only on non-agricultural establishment with at least one hired worker, thus leaving out agricultural enterprises (non-crop) as well as own-account enterprises. However, from second Census onwards these lacunae were removed and Census collected information regarding agricultural (non-crop) and non-agricultural enterprises along with own account enterprises as well as establishment with at least one hired worker.

 

Our first three notes dealt with providing background information  on the rationale for conducting Censuses, trend growth in the  number of enterprises in all Censuses between 1980 and 2005, as also an account of the special characteristics of different enterprises. This note, the fourth in the series of notes prepared from the results disseminated from the Economic Censuses, presents an account of the different facets of employment together with the growth in employment as between different Census periods  during the last twenty-five years i.e. from 1980 to 2005.

2. Definitions

Enterprise

An institutional unit in its capacity as a producer of goods and services is known as an enterprise. An enterprise is an economic transactor with autonomy in respect of financial and investment decision-making, as well as authority and responsibility for allocating resources for production of goods and services. It may be engaged in one or more economic activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

Establishment

The establishment is defined as an enterprise or part of an enterprise that is situated in a single location in which one or predominantly one kind of economic activity is carried out. It is an economic unit under a single legal entity.

 

Own-Account Enterprises (OAE)

 

An enterprises without any hired worker on a fairly regular basis is termed as an own-account enterprise. It is normally run by members of the household

 

Directory Establishment (DE)

 

An establishment with hired worker employing six or more persons daily

on a fairly regular basis is termed as directory establishment.

 

Non –Directory Establishment (NDE)

 

An establishment with hired worker employing less than six persons daily on a fairly regular basis is termed as non-directory establishment.

 

Agricultural Establishment

 

Agricultural Establishment is defined as one engaged in livestock production, agricultural services, hunting, trapping and game propagation, forestry and logging, fishing (corresponding to groups 012,013,014,015,020 and 050 of NIC 2004). Establishments engaged in activities pertaining to crop production and plantation (group 011 of NIC 2004) are excluded from the coverage of Economic Censuses.

Non-Agricultural Establishment

Establishments engaged in economic activities other than those carried out by agricultural establishments are termed as non-agricultural establishments.

Number of Persons usually working daily

Number of persons working daily in an establishment will include all persons whether hired or not. Workers with age less than 15 are categorized as children. Household members whether paid or not if engaged in any of the activities carried out by the establishment are included. The data of persons is a position in the last year for perennial establishment and last working season for seasonal establishment. This also includes supervisors and primary workers. A worker need not mean the same person is continued but refers to a position. Part time workers are also treated as employees as long as they are engaged on a regular basis.

Coverage

                Scope and Coverage

Fifth Economic Census covered all states and UTs. All economic activities (agricultural and non-agricultural) except that involved in crop production and plantation related to production and/or distribution of goods and/or services other than for the sole purpose of own consumption was covered.

However, as were done in earlier censuses, the following activities were kept out of the purview of the fifth economic census.

i)                     Establishments of shelter-less and nomadic population, which keep on moving from place to place and camp either without shelter or with makeshift shelter.

ii)                   Establishments engaged in some activities like smuggling, gambling, beggary, prostitution, etc.

iii)                  Domestic servants, whether they work in one household or in a number of households and drivers, etc who undertake work for others on wages.

iv)                  All wage-paid employees of casual nature.

v)                   Household members engaged in household chores.

vi)                  Mazdoors , masons, carpenters, working independently, etc.

vii)                Household members working for other households and earning some money, which is insignificant.

viii)               Households depending only on remittances, rent, interest, pension, etc.

ix)                  Owners of tube-wells, tractors, bullock carts, etc., who utilize their spare capacity to earn extra money, if the spare capacity utilization is occasional and not on regular basis.

Thus Economic Censuses covers small, medium and large enterprises both in rural and urban areas as well as non-crop agricultural enterprises and non-agricultural enterprises including own-account enterprises and establishment with at least one hired worker

3. Limitations

NIC-1987 was used in the third and fourth Economic Censuses, whereas NIC-2004 was used in the fifth Economic Census. Census 1980 did not cover Assam while the Census 1990 did not cover Jammu and Kashmir . Hence in this note wherever available these two states have been  excluded from the data of all Censuses though the same are presented along with the actual published data. Moreover, EC 1980 All-India Report published by CSO did not include the data for  Kerala, Bihar and Lakshadweep in addition to Assam where the Economic Census was not conducted . However, some important data on Kerala, Bihar and Lakshadweep were disseminated by the CSO  in their District-wise aggregates published in June 1986 which we have incorporated in the results here..

  1. Total Employment (Agricultural + Non-Agricultural Enterprises) –

 Status and Trends

All Enterprises

Table 1 presents  the number of enterprises as well as size of employment along with their growth and rate of employment, i.e., the average employment per enterprises between different Censuses.

According to EC 2005, there were 41.83 million enterprises in the country engaged in different economic activities other than crop production and plantation, employing 100.9 million persons in 2005; as against this, there were 53.7 million persons employed by 18.36 million enterprises in 1980. The compound annual average growth rate in employment between 1980 and 2005 works out to be 2.56 per cent. The CAGR in number of enterprises  between 1998 and 2005 has been the fastest at 5.94 per cent but the employment during the period was only 2.78 per cent.

Nevertheless some interesting facts have been revealed by the Economic Censuses. Firstly, the growth rate in employment has been the fastest in rural areas as compared to urban areas during the period 1980-2005. Thus there has been a change in the share of employment during the period 1980 and 2005 with rural areas gaining and the urban areas loosing ground to that extent. Secondly, the rate of employment (workers per enterprises) was only 2.41 persons in 2005 and there was a steady decline in the rate of employment between different Censuses during the 25-year  period (Table 1). Still the rate of employment was more or less the same in rural areas, hovering around 2 to 2.3 persons per enterprise; as against this in urban area, there has been a marked decline in the employees per enterprises, with the rate of employment falling from 4 in 1980 to  3.8 in 1990, then to 3.4 in 1998  and finally to 3 in 2005.

Table 1 : Growth In Employment As Per Economic Censuses

 

 

 

As per published data

Excluding Jammu & Kashmir and Assam *

 

1980

1990

1998

2005

1980

1990

1998

2005

 

Number of Enterprises (Agricultural+ Non-Agricultural) (Number in ' 000)

 

Rural

11141

14722

17707

25536

11016

14370

17193

24671

Urban

7220

10280

12641

16291

7149

10137

12347

15847

Total

18362

25002

30349

41827

18165

24507

29540

40518

 

Employment In All Enterprises (Agricultural +Non-Agricultural) (Number in ' 000)

Rural

24474

33296

39901

52069

24227

32176

38133

50259

Urban

29194

38780

43399

48835

28952

38210

42499

47685

Total

53668

72076

83300

100904

53179

70386

80632

97944

 

Share of Rural and Urban Areas in Percentages

 

 

 

Rural

45.60

46.20

47.90

51.60

45.56

45.71

47.29

51.31

Urban

54.40

53.80

52.10

48.40

54.44

54.29

52.71

48.69

Total

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

 

Rate of Employment ( Workers Per Enterprise )

 

 

 

Rural

2.20

2.26

2.25

2.04

2.20

2.24

2.22

2.04

Urban

4.04

3.77

3.43

3.00

4.05

3.77

3.44

3.01

Total

2.92

2.88

2.74

2.41

2.93

2.87

2.73

2.42

 

Compounded Average Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in Employment in Percent 

 

1980-90

1990-98

1998-05

1980-05

1980-90

1990-98

1998-05

1980-05

Rural

3.13

2.29

3.88

3.07

2.88

2.15

4.02

2.96

Urban

2.88

1.42

1.70

2.08

2.81

1.34

1.66

2.02

Total

2.99

1.83

2.78

2.56

2.84

1.71

2.82

2.47

 

Number of Hired Workers (Numbers in ' 000)

 

 

 

Rural

10061

14324

16363

23070

9938

13630

15297

22218

Urban

19532

25880

26930

31307

19374

25493

26382

30625

Total

29593

40204

43293

54377

29312

39123

41679

52843

 

Share of Hired Workers to Total Employment in Percent

 

 

Rural

41.11

43.02

41.01

44.31

41.02

42.36

40.11

44.21

Urban

66.90

66.74

62.05

64.11

66.92

66.72

62.08

64.22

Total

55.14

55.78

51.97

53.89

55.12

55.58

51.69

53.95

* : Worked out after removing data for Jammu and Kashmir and Assam from the respective years as census was not conducted in Assam and J & K during 1980 and 1990 respectively.

 Source; CSO(2008), Economic Census 2005 ,All India Report and earlier Census Reports

 

The number of hired workers rose from 29.6 million to 54.3 million during the 25-year period ending 2005. However, the share of hired workers to total employed persons witnessed a decline from 55.1 per cent in 1980 to 53.9 per cent in 2005. Marked decline in the share of hired worker has witnessed in 1998, thereafter there was a pick up to 53.4 per cent in 2005 (Table 1). This trend can be attributed the recessionary trend in the early 1990s and then the pick up of the economy between 1998 and 2005. There was an addition of 13 million numbers of persons in enterprises situated in rural areas resulting in total rural work force to 23.1 million in 2005. The increment in the number of hired workers in urban areas was only 11.8 million; as a result the total number of hired workers in urban area rose from 19.5 million to 31.3 million during the period 1980-2005.

Own-Account Enterprises

Table 2 shows the number of enterprises, employment, their growth and rate of employment, i.e., the average employment per enterprises between different censuses.

Persons working in own account enterprises rose from 20.2 millions in 1980 to 35.7 million in 2005 with a CAGR of 2.32 per cent. While there was an increase of 11 million persons working in rural enterprises during the period 1980 to 2005 that in urban areas witnesses only an increase of 3.9 million enterprises.

Table 2 : Growth In Employment As Per Economic Censuses

 

 

 

 

As per published data

Excluding Jammu & Kashmir and Assam *

 

1980

1990

1998

2005

1980

1990

1998

2005

 

Employment In All Own-Account Enterprises (Agrl +Non-Agrl) (Number in ' 000)

Rural

13090

16843

20795

24726

12979

16557

20218

23966

Urban

7067

9117

11445

11006

7003

9016

11184

10730

Total

20157

25960

32240

35732

19982

25573

31402

34696

 

Share of Rural and Urban Areas in Percentages

 

 

 

Rural

64.94

64.88

64.50

69.20

64.95

64.74

64.38

69.07

Urban

35.06

35.12

35.50

30.80

35.05

35.26

35.62

30.93

Total

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

 

Rate of Employment ( Workers Per Enterprise )

 

 

 

Rural

1.51

1.49

1.53

1.37

1.52

1.49

1.52

1.37

Urban

1.49

1.43

1.47

1.25

1.49

1.43

1.47

1.25

Total

1.51

1.47

1.51

1.33

1.51

1.47

1.51

1.33

 

Compounded Average Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in Percent

 

 

 

1980-90

1990-98

1998-05

1980-05

1980-90

1990-98

1998-05

1980-05

Rural

2.55

2.67

2.50

2.58

2.46

2.53

2.46

2.48

Urban

2.58

2.88

-0.56

1.79

2.56

2.73

-0.59

1.72

Total

2.56

2.75

1.48

2.32

2.50

2.60

1.44

2.23

* : Worked out after removing data for Jammu and Kashmir and Assam from the respective years as census was not conducted in Assam and J & K during 1980 and 1990 respectively. 

Source; CSO(2008), Economic Census 2005 ,All India Report and earlier Census Reports

 

The growth rate in rural areas works out 3.6 per cent during the period and that in urban areas 2.2 per cent. As a result the overall rate of employment came down from 1.5 percent in 1980 to 1.3 in 2005. The same trend has been witnessed both in rural and urban area enterprises (Table 2). However, the share of persons working in own account enterprises in rural areas gone up from 65 per cent to 69 per cent, that in urban enterprises declined from 35 per cent to 31 per cent between 1980 and 2005.

 

Establishment with at least one hired worker

Persons engaged by establishment with at least one hired worker rose from 33.5 million in 1980 to 65.2 million in 2005, a massive addition of 31.7 million during the 25-year period, with a CAGR of 2.70 per cent. Still the rate of employment during the period saws a decline from 6.7 to 4.4. Though the addition was more or less evenly distributed between rural and urban enterprises, there was a change in the share of employees among the rural and urban areas in favour of rural enterprises (Table 3). While the share of rural enterprise employees rose from 34 to 42 per cent that of urban employees went down from 66 to 58 per cent during the 25-year period ending 2005.

 

Table 3 : Growth In Employment As Per Economic Censuses

 

 

 

 

As per published data

Excluding Jammu & Kashmir and Assam *

 

1980

1990

1998

2005

1980

1990

1998

2005

 

Employment in All Establishment with Hired Workers (Agrl +Non-Agrl) (Number in ' 000)

Rural

11384

16453

19106

27343

11248

15618

17915

26294

Urban

22127

29663

31953

37829

21949

29195

31315

36954

Total

33511

46116

51059

65172

33197

44813

49230

63248

 

Share of Rural and Urban Areas in Percentages

 

 

 

Rural

33.97

35.68

37.42

41.96

33.88

34.85

36.39

41.57

Urban

66.03

64.32

62.58

58.04

66.12

65.15

63.61

58.43

Total

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

 

Rate of Employment ( Workers Per Enterprise )

 

 

 

Rural

4.56

4.83

4.65

3.68

4.58

4.77

4.55

3.67

Urban

8.90

7.58

6.57

5.07

8.91

7.59

6.58

5.09

Total

6.73

6.30

5.69

4.38

6.75

6.29

8.65

4.39

 

Compounded Average Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in Percent

 

 

 

1980-90

1990-98

1998-05

1980-05

1980-90

1990-98

1998-05

1980-05

Rural

3.75

1.89

5.25

3.57

3.34

1.73

5.63

3.45

Urban

2.97

0.93

2.44

2.17

2.89

0.88

2.39

2.11

Total

3.24

1.28

3.55

2.70

3.05

1.18

3.64

2.61

* : Worked out after removing data for Jammu and Kashmir and Assam from the respective years as census was not conducted in Assam and J & K during 1980 and 1990 respectively. 

Source; CSO(2008), Economic Census 2005 ,All India Report and earlier Census Reports

 

Another interesting fact is both in rural and urban areas the rate of employment witnessed declines. While rate of rural employment came down to 3.7 in 2005 from 4.6 1980, that among urban enterprises decline to 5.1 in 2005 from 8.9 in 1980. Still, the CAGR in rural during the 25-year period works out to be 3.6 per cent, clearly 1.4 per cent more than that seen among urban enterprise employment.

Directory and Non-Directory Establishment

The employment in non-directory establishment has registered an increase of 11.6 million employees during the 7 year period ending 2005. Both in rural and urban area the employment increased 6 million each during 1998-2005. The CAGR worked out to be 7.2 per cent during the period. But rate of employment however came down from 2.5 in 1998 to 2.3 in 2005 (Table 4).

Table 4 : Growth In Employment As Per Economic Censuses

 

 

 

 

As per published data

Excl. Jammu & Kashmir and Assam *

 

1998

2005

1998

2005

1998

2005

1998

2005

 

Non-Directory Estt.

Directory Estt.

Non-Directory Estt.

Directory Estt.

Rural

7990

14048

11116

13295

7674

13496

10241

12798

Urban

10568

16104

21385

21725

10344

15646

20971

21308

Total

18558

30152

32501

35020

18018

29142

31212

34106

 

Share of Rural and Urban Areas in Percentages 

Rural

43.05

46.59

34.20

37.96

42.59

46.31

32.81

37.52

Urban

56.95

53.41

65.80

62.04

57.41

53.69

67.19

62.48

Total

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

 Rate of Employment ( Workers Per Enterprise

Rural

2.31

2.13

17.22

16.15

2.30

2.12

17.01

16.24

Urban

2.74

2.54

21.10

19.43

2.75

2.54

21.10

19.48

Total

2.54

2.33

19.59

18.03

2.52

2.32

19.56

18.12

 Compounded Average Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in Percent 

 

1998-05

 

1998-05

 

1998-05

 

1998-05

 

Rural

8.40

 

2.59

 

8.40

 

3.24

 

Urban

6.20

 

0.23

 

6.09

 

0.23

 

Total

7.18

 

1.07

 

7.11

 

1.27

 

* : Worked out after removing data for Jammu and Kashmir and Assam from the respective years as census was not conducted in Assam and J & K during 1980 and 1990 respectively. 

Source; CSO(2008), Economic Census 2005 ,All India Report and earlier Census Reports

 

Persons engaged by Directory Establishment grew from 32.5 million in 1998 to 35.0 million in 2005, a mere 2.5 million with a growth rate of 1.1 per cent during the 7-year period. However rate of employment came down from 19.6 to 18.

The employment in non-directory establishment was growing much faster than that in directory establishment as a whole as well as in both in rural and urban areas.

Male and Female Employments

Table 5 shows gender wise employments among own account enterprises, establishments with at least one hired workers and all enterprises along with child employments for the years 1990, 1998 and 2005.

In 2005, out of 100.9 million workers, 20.2 million workers were females forming 20.0 per cent, as against this in 1990 there were 12.3 million females employees forming 17.1 per cent of 72.0 million total employees. CAGR of female employees works out to

be 1.8 per cent during the 15-year period. Female employment in rural enterprises grew from 7.5 million in 1990 to 12.3 million in 2005. In urban enterprises female participation grew from 4.8 million in 1990 to 7.2 million in 2005. Thus, CAGR of female employment in urban areas was slower at 1.2 per cent than that of 2.6 per cent in rural areas. Female participation in own account enterprises rose from 5.2 million in 1990 to 7.4 million in 2005 with a CAGR of 1.9 during the period. But there was not much change in their share during the period. Establishment with hired worker has 7.1 million females in the roaster in 1990 which rose to 12.8 million in 2005 with CAGR of 1.8 per cent. But the share of female workers increased from 15.5 per cent in 1990 to 19.6 per cent in 2005.

In spite of child labour ban etc., there was an increase in the child employment especially in rural establishments. While there was a fall in child employment especially among own-account enterprises, there was a substantial increase in child employment among establishments with at least one hired workers. This trend is more among rural establishment with at least one hired worker. However, over all there is no increase in child employment and there was 2.4 million children working in the enterprises as per EC-2005 as against 2.3 children working as per EC-1998.

Table 5: Gender Wise Employment 

 

 

1990

1998

2005

 

 

OAE

Estt.

All

OAE

Estt.

All

OAE

Estt.

All

 

 

Number of Workers ( numbers in ' 000) 

Total

Rural

16843

16453

33296

20795

19106

39901

24726

27343

52069

 

Urban

9116

29663

38780

11445

31954

43399

11006

37829

48835

 

All

25959

46116

72076

32240

51060

83300

35732

65172

100904

Male

Rural

12806

12954

25760

15097

14394

29491

18093

19485

37578

 

Urban

7978

26028

34007

9868

27233

37101

9509

31212

40721

 

All

20784

38982

59767

24965

41627

66592

27602

50698

78300

Female

Rural

4037

3499

7536

4792

4172

8964

6038

6939

12977

 

Urban

1138

3635

4773

1307

4119

5426

1365

5863

7228

 

All

5175

7134

12309

6099

8291

14390

7403

12801

20204

Of which

Rural

 

3087

 

 

3690

 

 

6199

 

Hired

Urban

 

3429

 

 

3765

 

 

5454

 

 

All

 

6517

 

 

7455

 

 

11653

 

Children

Rural

 

 

 

906

540

1446

595

919

1514

 

Urban

 

 

 

270

602

872

132

754

886

 

All

 

 

 

1176

1142

2318

727

1673

2400

of which

Rural

 

 

 

 

404

 

 

793

 

Hired

Urban

 

 

 

 

513

 

 

677

 

 

All

 

 

 

 

917

 

 

1470

 

 

 

Share of Male, Female and Children to Respective Total in Percentage 

Male

Rural

76.03

78.73

77.37

72.60

75.34

73.91

73.17

71.26

72.17

 

Urban

87.52

87.75

87.69

86.22

85.23

85.49

86.40

82.51

83.38

 

All

80.06

84.53

82.92

77.43

81.53

79.94

77.25

77.79

77.60

Female

Rural

23.97

21.27

22.63

23.04

21.84

22.47

24.42

25.38

24.92

 

Urban

12.48

12.25

12.31

11.42

12.89

12.50

12.40

15.50

14.80

 

All

19.94

15.47

17.08

18.92

16.24

17.27

20.72

19.64

20.02

Children

Rural

0.00

0.00

0.00

4.36

2.83

3.62

2.41

3.36

2.91

 

Urban

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.36

1.88

2.01

1.20

1.99

1.81

 

All

0.00

0.00

0.00

3.65

2.24

2.78

2.03

2.57

2.38

 

 

Compounded Average Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) (Percentage) 

 

 

1990-1998

1998-2005

1990-2005

Male

Rural

2.67

1.89

2.29

2.50

5.25

3.88

2.59

3.44

3.03

 

Urban

2.88

0.93

1.42

-0.56

2.44

1.70

1.26

1.63

1.55

 

All

2.75

1.28

1.83

1.48

3.55

2.78

2.15

2.33

2.27

Female

Rural

2.08

1.33

1.71

2.62

4.42

3.52

2.33

2.76

2.55

 

Urban

2.69

0.57

1.09

-0.53

1.97

1.34

1.18

1.22

1.21

 

All

2.32

0.82

1.36

1.44

2.86

2.34

1.91

1.77

1.82

Children

Rural

 

 

 

3.36

7.54

5.43

 

 

 

 

Urban

 

 

 

0.62

5.17

4.18

 

 

 

 

All

 

 

 

2.81

6.40

4.97

 

 

 

Source: CSO(2008), Economic Census 2005, All India Report and Previous Reports 

 

5. Employment in Agricultural Enterprises

All Agricultural Enterprises (OAE+Estt)

Agricultural enterprises employed 10.9 million people in 2005 as against 2.8 million in 1980, a massive increase of 8.1 million people in 25-years with an CAGR of 5.52 per cent (Table 6). The growth rate was fastest between 1998 and 2005 with CAGR of 7.11 per cent during the period.

While rural agricultural employment grew from 2.5 million people in 1980 to 10.2 million people in 2005, that in urban area increased from 0.4 million in 1980 to 0.7 million in 2005. In 2005, the share of employment in rural area was 93.2 per cent as against 86.0 per cent in 1980. However, a marginal decline in average worker per enterprises has been witnessed during the period.

Hired workers increased from 0.6 million to 2.2 million during the period with rural enterprises employing most of the workers. In 2005, hired workers formed about 20.0 per cent of the total workers in agricultural enterprises, as against 19.5 per cent in 1980.A marginal increase of 2 per cent were witnessed in the share of hired workers in urban areas and a one percent increase in the share of hired workers engaged by rural agricultural enterprises.

 

Table 6 : Growth In Employment As Per Economic Censuses 

 

As per published data

Excluding Jammu & Kashmir and Assam *

 

1980

1990

1998

2005

1980

1990

1998

2005

 

Employment In All Agricultural Enterprises (Number in ' 000) 

Rural

2451

4233

6133

10175

2433

4207

6081

10090

Urban

398

531

616

738

395

526

609

731

Total

2849

4764

6749

10913

2828

4733

6690

10821

 

Share of Rural and Urban Areas in Percentages

 

 

 

Rural

86.03

88.85

90.87

93.24

86.03

88.89

90.90

93.24

Urban

13.97

11.15

9.13

6.76

13.97

11.11

9.10

6.76

Total

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

 

Rate of Employment ( Workers Per Enterprise