• Work plays an important role in our lives, as individuals and as members of society.
  • Every rational man aims to be engaged in certain work to earn a living.
  • Some work on farms, in factories, banks, and shops and a few others work at home.
  • Work at Home includes not only traditional work like weaving, lace making, or a variety of handicrafts but also modern jobs like programming work in the IT industry.
  • Earlier factory work meant working in factories located in cities, whereas, now technology has enabled people to produce those factory-based goods at home in villages.

Important Points about Work

  • People work to 'earn' a living. Employment is an activity from which a person earns means of livelihood.
  • Some people get money by inheriting it. However, it does not completely satisfy anybody. Being employed in work gives us a sense of self-worth and enables us to relate ourselves meaningfully with others.
  • Every working person contributes to national income by engaging in various economic activities.
  • We work not only for ourselves but also for those who depend on us as if our family gives us a sense of accomplishment when we work to meet their requirements.
  • The study of working people gives us insights into the quality and nature of employment in our country and helps in understanding and planning our human resources.
  • It helps in analyzing the contribution made by different industries and sectors toward national income.
  • It also helps us to address many social issues such as exploitation of marginalized sections of society, child labor, etc.

Worker

Meaning: A worker is an individual, who is involved in some economic activity, to earn a living.

• A worker contributes to the process of gross domestic product (GDP) by rendering his productive activities.

• Some examples of workers are farmers, managers, laborers, doctors, barbers, professors, etc.

Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product Gross Domestic Product (GDP): GDP refers to the total money value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. Gross National Product (GNP): When net earnings** are added to GDP, we get GNP. Those activities which contribute to GNP are called economic activities. **Net Earnings: The difference between imports payments and exports receipts is termed net earnings for the country. Net Earnings can be • Positive when receipts from exports are more than payments for imports. • Zero, when receipts from exports are equal to payments for imports. 1. Negative, when receipts from exports are less than payments for imports.

Who all are included in ‘Workers'?

  • It is generally believed that people who are paid by an employer are workers. However, this is not true.
  • It also includes so includes self-employed persons, like shopkeepers, barbers, cobblers, etc.
  • It also includes those people who remain temporarily absent from work due to illness, injury, or other physical disability, bad weather, festivals, social or religious functions, or some other reasons.
  • It also includes those people who help the main workers. It means, that all those who are engaged in economic activities, in whatever capacity, are workers.
  • in terms, workers include all those people, who are engaged in work, whether for others (paid workers) or for themselves (self-employed workers).

Nature of Employment in India is Multifaceted.

  • Some get employment throughout the year, while others get employed for only a few months in a year, like seasonal workers.
  • Many workers do not get fair wages for their work.
  • While estimating the number of workers, all those who are engaged in economic activities are included as employed.

Number of Workers

  • During 2011-12, the total number of workers in India was 473 million persons. Since the majority of our people reside in rural areas, the proportion of the workforce residing there is higher. Therefore, out of 473 million workers, nearly three-fourths were rural workers.
  • Around 70% of total workers are male workers and the rest are female workers.
  • Rural women participate in a larger number of productive activities as compared to urban women. Among the rural workers, the share of female workers is more than one-third, whereas the share is around one-fifth in the case of urban workers.
  • In rural areas, many women carry out works like cooking, fetching water, fuelwood, and participating in farm labor. They are either not paid wages in cash or are paid in the form of grains. For this reason, these women are not categorized as workers. However, it is often argued that these women should also be called workers.

Labour Force

Meaning: All persons, who are working (have a job) and though not working, are seeking and are available for work, are deemed to be in the labor force.

Labour Force = Persons working + Persons seeking and/or available for work.

In other words, Labour Force is the total of employed and unemployed persons.

How to calculate labor force?

Subtract the following from the total population:

  1. Unfit People like old or handicapped persons;
  2. People who are not willing to work;
  3. People who are not available for work.

Labour Force Participation Rate (Or Work Force Participation Rate)

Meaning: The ratio of labor force to total population is called Labour Force Participation Rate. It is used for analyzing the situation of a country.

Work Force

The number of persons, who are actually employed at a particular time, is known as work force. It includes all those persons who are actually engaged in productive activities.

Calculation of Number of Unemployed People

With the help of labor force and workforce, we can calculate the number of unemployed people. If we subtract the workforce from the labor force, we get a number of unemployed people.

Unemployed People = Labour Force - Work Force