An Analysis of Employment Status in the Indian Handloom Industry

The Handloom industry provides livelihood opportunities to many rural and urban populations in India. The present research was primarily focused on 13 major handloom practising states of India, each of which had more than 1 per cent share of total employment in India's handloom sector and covered 93 per cent of workers in this sector. The present paper showed the growth of employment in the handloom weaving sector and described the status of workers in the sector. Handloom census reports 2009-10 and 2019-20 form the database for the present study. It was observed that 4 states had a positive CAGR of the number of workers in the sector from 2009 to 2019, while it declined at the national level. The research also discussed the nature of work, engagement pattern, the average number of working days, average household income etc., and identified differences among the states. Keywords: Allied workers, male and female, handloom sector, NER and non-NER states, weavers JEL Codes: J62, J81, J82, L67.