23 March 2011: 'Missing Middle' in Manufacturing and the Employment Problem in India: A Study in Asian Perspective

Dipak Mazumdar
Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto and Institute of Development Studies, New Delhi

Abstract:
In spite of the well noticed high growth rate of GDP in India, the employment problem is serious. The crux of the problem seems to be the slow absorption of labor in the formal sector. The reallocation of labor from low productivity agriculture has been at a modest rate in international perspective, and most of the increase in employment is absorbed in the informal sector with low wages and irregular employment contract. The result of the process is that, although the rate of poverty has been falling, the growth rate of labor earnings is slow and there is a strong trend to increasing inequality. It is argued that the crux of the problem is the failure of the manufacturing sector to play a significant role in labor absorption at reasonably high level of wages. This can in its turn be traced to the dualism in Indian manufacturing with a conspicuous ‘missing middle’ in its size structure. The mechanics of the problem is analyzed in the perspective of alternative patterns of size structure seen in the manufacturing sector of other industrializing countries of Asia.

Date: March 23, 2011
Time: 12:30 A.M.

Venue:
Second Floor Conference Room
The World Bank,
70 Lodi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Note:
Please confirm attendance by mail to Jyoti Sriram at jsriram@worldbank.org by March 22nd

Location:

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