| Popis: |
West Bengal witnessed the highest growth in non-agricultural employment between 2004-05 and 2009-10 amongst all the states in India. The state also witnessed the highest growth in manufacturing employment between 2004-05 and 2011-12. The paper analyses this increase in employment in the manufacturing sector in particular. Employment in West Bengal can generally be characterized by massive informalization of labour, stagnant real wages and minimal social security. While there has been an increase in employment in the manufacturing sector, its share in West Bengal GSDP has been declining. Even within the top sectors of manufacturing in terms of employment, informalization and the lack of social security are widespread. Moreover, it has been shown that significant proportion of workers in the manufacturing sector earn wages less than the national floor level minimum wage. This proportion has not decreased significantly between 2004-05 and 2011-12. It is therefore concluded in the paper that while there has been a significant increase in employment in manufacturing sector in the state, it needs to be interpreted with caution given the preponderance of the informal sector and very low wages in the manufacturing sector. |
