Female Vulnerable Employment in India's Informal Sector

Abstract

This study examines female vulnerable employment in India’s informal sector and the impact on economic growth using quarterly data from 1991 to 2017 and a blend of descriptive and econometric analyses (the twostage least squares instrumental variables technique). From the descriptive analysis, some of the compelling findings are: (1) larger percentage of female are engaged in vulnerable employment, (2) India's female employment is largely concentrated in the agricultural sector relative to the industrial and services sectors, (3) a larger proportion are self-employed, (4) a growing percentage contribute to the family income as breadwinners, (5) India has the highest percentage of female in vulnerable employment in the whole of Asia and second to Nepal among SAARC countries, and (6) India’s percentage of women in vulnerable employment towers its own regional average of 69.6 percent , it is twice that of East Asia at 43.8 percent and five times that of Western Asia at 17.5 percent . These statistics affirm that most women in India are engaged in vulnerable employment. Likewise, results from econometric simulations suggest that (1) increasing the number of female in vulnerable employment stifles economic growth, (2) increasing female employment in the agricultural sector significantly reduces economic growth, while (3) increase in female employment in both industrial and services sectors stimulate economic growth significantly. Policy outcomes are discussed.