IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revinw/v65y2019is1ps102-s122.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informal Employment and the Structure of Wages in India: A Review of Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Rosa Abraham

Abstract

The “alternative”, “atypical” or “informal” workforce has grown in developed and developing countries alike. One of the more recent evolutions of informal employment has been of informal employment within formal enterprises. In the interest of flexibility and cost‐reduction, many formal firms increasingly resort to hiring workers on a temporary or informal basis. Alongside, and perhaps, as a result of the persistence and pervasiveness of informal employment, issues relating to inequality have come to the fore. This paper is motivated by these two intertwining aspects of Indian labor market—informality and wage inequality. Using nationally representative sample data, the paper examines trends in wage inequality among various forms of informal workers, overlaying these findings with broader trends in inequality. Using a regression based inequality decomposition, the paper compares the sources of wage inequality across different employment groups and the reasons for differences in wage inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosa Abraham, 2019. "Informal Employment and the Structure of Wages in India: A Review of Trends," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(S1), pages 102-122, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:65:y:2019:i:s1:p:s102-s122
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12435
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12435
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/roiw.12435?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petia Topalova, 2008. "India: Is the Rising Tide Lifting All Boats?," IMF Working Papers 2008/054, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Rani, Uma. & Furrer, Marianne., 2016. "Decomposing income inequality into factor income components evidence from selected G20 countries," ILO Working Papers 994930893002676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Paolo Figini & Holger Go¨rg, 2011. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Wage Inequality? An Empirical Investigation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(9), pages 1455-1475, September.
    4. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1983. "Generalized Econometric Models with Selectivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(2), pages 507-512, March.
    5. Rani, Uma. & Furrer, Marianne., 2016. "Decomposing income inequality into factor income components : evidence from selected G20 countries," ILO Working Papers 994934893302676, International Labour Organization.
    6. Rosa Abraham, 2017. "Informality in the Indian Labour Market: An Analysis of Forms and Determinants," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 60(2), pages 191-215, June.
    7. Rashmi Banga, 2007. "Liberalisation and Wage Inequality In India," Working Papers id:805, eSocialSciences.
    8. K.V. Ramaswamy, 2008. "Wage Inequality in Indian Manufacturing - Is it Trade, Technology or Labour Regulations?," Labor Economics Working Papers 22361, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    9. Myeong‐Su Yun, 2006. "Earnings Inequality In Usa, 1969–99: Comparing Inequality Using Earnings Equations," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(1), pages 127-144, March.
    10. repec:pru:wpaper:29 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Rashmi Banga, 2005. "Liberalisation and wage inequality in India," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 156, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    12. Shorrocks, A F, 1982. "Inequality Decomposition by Factor Components," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 193-211, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nguepi Tsafack Elvis & Hua Cheng & Buregeya Ingabire Providence, 2022. "The Illustrative Understanding on the Informal Sector and Its Influence in Firm Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Evidence from Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Facundo Quiroga‐Martínez & Esteban Fernández‐Vázquez, 2021. "Education as a key to reduce spatial inequalities and informality in Argentinean regional labour markets," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 177-189, February.
    3. Mrinalini Jha & Amit Basole, 2023. "Labour Incomes in India: A Comparison of Two National Household Surveys," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(1), pages 181-201, March.
    4. Serdar Acun, 2021. "Türkiye’de Ücretlilerin Kayıtlı Çalışma Olasılığını Belirleyen Faktörlerin Analizi," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(80), pages 423-450, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anton I. Votinov & Samvel S. Lazaryan & Vyacheslav N. Ovchinnikov, 2019. "Regression-Based Decomposition of Income Inequality Factors in Russia," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 5, pages 74-89, October.
    2. Nelson R. Ramírez- Rondán & Marco E. Terrones & Diego Winkelried, 2020. "Equalizing growth: The case of Peru," Working Papers 176, Peruvian Economic Association.
    3. Hammer, Bernhard & Christl, Michael & De Poli, Silvia, 2023. "Public redistribution in Europe: Between generations or income groups?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    4. Caroline Krafft & Elizabeth E. Davis, 2021. "The Arab inequality puzzle: the role of income sources in Egypt and Tunisia," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-26, January.
    5. Bernhard Hammer & Michael Christl & Silvia De Poli, 2020. "Redistribution across Europe: How much and to whom?," Working Papers 593, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    6. Uma Rani & Jaya Krishnakumar & Maurizio Bigotta, 2017. "Accounting for income inequality: empirical evidence from India," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 193-229, December.
    7. Muszyńska Joanna & Oczki Jarosław & Wędrowska Ewa, 2018. "Income Inequality in Poland and the United Kingdom. Decomposition of the Theil Index," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 108-122, June.
    8. Mohsen Ayyash & Siok Kun Sek, 2020. "Decomposing Inequality in Household Consumption Expenditure in Malaysia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Simona ILIE, 2020. "Income Inequalities in Romania in the Aftermath of the 2008 Economic Crisis," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(2), pages 115-130, July.
    10. Kashour, Mohammad, 2023. "A step towards a just transition in the EU: Conclusions of a regression-based energy inequality decomposition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    11. Syeda Tamkeen Fatima & Abdul Qayyum Khan, 2018. "Foreign direct investment and its impact on real wages: evidence from Turkish micro-level data," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 732-749, November.
    12. Monojit Chatterji & Homagni Choudhury, 2010. "The Changing Inter-Industry Wage Structure of the Organised Manufacturing Sector in India, 1973-74 to 2003-04," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 244, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    13. Nguyen, Hien & Doan, Tinh & Quang Tran, tuyen, 2017. "Contribution to income inequality by income source: A comparison across ethnic groups in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 88821, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 18 Jan 2018.
    14. Kaveri Deb & William R. Hauk, 2020. "The Impact of Chinese Imports on Indian Wage Inequality," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 267-290, June.
    15. Liu, Amy Y.C., 2008. "Changes in urban inequality in Vietnam: 1992-1998," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 410-425, December.
    16. Tushar Agrawal & Ankush Agrawal, 2023. "Beyond Consumption Expenditure: Income Inequality and Its Sources in India," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 23(1), pages 7-27, January.
    17. Pauline Corblet, 2022. "Returns to education and experience on the labor market : a matching perspective [Les rendements de l'éducation et de l'expérience sur le marché du travail : offre, demande et appariement]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03852824, HAL.
    18. Fabián Slonimczyk, 2013. "Earnings inequality and skill mismatch in the U.S.: 1973–2002," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(2), pages 163-194, June.
    19. Adriana Peluffo, 2015. "Foreign Direct Investment, Productivity, Demand for Skilled Labour and Wage Inequality: An Analysis of Uruguay," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 962-983, June.
    20. Sahu, Pritish Kumar, 2010. "FDI, wage inequality and employment in emerging economies: recent evidence from Indian manufacturing," MPRA Paper 35149, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:65:y:2019:i:s1:p:s102-s122. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iariwea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.