Status of employment
Also called: Employment status · Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues"
Meaning
Status of employment is a worker's position in the enterprise where they work. It has three types:
- self-employed: owns and runs an enterprise;
- regular salaried: hired and paid regularly;
- casual: hired casually and paid for work done.
The worker-population ratio only counts how many people work. Status shows one dimension of job quality: how attached the worker is to the job and how much authority they have over the enterprise and co-workers. Casual workers are the most vulnerable group.
Example
At a construction site, the cement-shop owner is self-employed, the civil engineer is a regular salaried employee, and the construction worker is a casual worker. In 2023-24, about 58.4% of India's workforce was self-employed, 21.7% regular salaried and 19.9% casual.
Don't confuse with
- Organised/unorganised sector: this classifies the enterprise (public, or private with 10 or more hired workers). Status of employment classifies the worker's position.