Measuring Non Market Work: Contribution that Matters National Consultation on Current Employment Strategies and Women‘s Work : ILO/Ministry of Labour/ISST New Delhi 7 July, 2009 Anushree Sinha National Council of Applied Economic Research

Motivation Gender disaggregated data could be used in evaluation of policies that might improve the economic situation of women in particular. In incorporating gender in a macro framework the first important area is the aspect of statistical data to capture women’s work participation/activities with greater accuracy than in the past. Without gender analysis grounded on data- policy decisions would be based on untested assumptions: high risk on welfare Understanding where women are is the first step in understanding women’s contribution to GDP

Background It is observed that most of the female work force is involved in informal activities and Non Market Work. In India around 96 percent of the female labour force including helpers, are involved in informal activities (unit level data- NSSO 61 st Round compared to 91% in the 55 th Round).

Percentage of Informal Worker Percentage of Formal Worker Male Female Total

Percentage Share of Workers by Sectors Important to identify all kinds of work so that most work carried out by women is captured. Work needs to be linked to value added and to overall GDP. Market work is linked to value added and GDP through wages. Non-market work has no visible wages and so it is difficult if not impossible to link such work to GDP. Studies have shown that a large percentage of women are involved in NMW Address the concept of opportunity cost in determining value of non-market work. I submit using minimum wages to start with. As we need to first think how to make such work visible as scare resources cannot be channelized without visibility.

Percentage Share of Workers by Sectors Note: Care: in place of ‘Reproduction sector’ as used by feminist economics Source: Computation using NSSO Round data Market WorkNMW Total Own Account workerEmployer worked as helper in HH enterprise worked as regular employee Worked as casual labour Total Market WorkHH duties Collection of Fuels etc Total Non Market Work male Agriculture 44.71%41.16%29.59%3.54%40.18%33.82%0.00% 27.90% Minning & quarrying 0.01% 0.00%1.16%0.14%0.21%0.00% 0.17% Agro processing 1.05%1.44%0.49%2.01%1.70%1.24%0.00% 1.02% other manufacturing 6.23%8.40%2.75%16.62%4.47%6.39%0.00% 5.27% readymade garments 0.55%0.78%0.15%1.25%0.14%0.44%0.00% 0.36% capital goods 0.15%0.72%0.05%1.42%0.10%0.30%0.00% 0.25% construction 2.71%5.32%0.27%1.43%13.13%4.98%0.00% 4.11% other services 26.84%27.87%6.31%42.24%5.11%17.78%0.00% 14.67% public administration 0.00%0.06%0.00%10.88%0.07%1.58%0.00% 1.30% Sub Total Male 82.24%85.76%39.61%80.55%65.05%66.73%0.00% 55.06% Care 0.00% 0.86%0.83%0.84%0.15% female Agriculture 10.01%11.96%51.60%0.96%29.47%24.47%0.00% 20.19% Minning & quarrying 0.00% 0.06%0.03%0.02%0.00% 0.02% Agro processing 0.30%0.16%0.48%0.26%0.90%0.51%0.00% 0.42% other manufacturing 4.28%0.67%4.46%2.40%1.40%3.18%0.00% 2.62% readymade garments 0.33% 0.19%0.33%0.06%0.22%0.00% 0.18% capital goods 0.01%0.07%0.00%0.12%0.02%0.03%0.00% 0.02% construction 0.01%0.00%0.02%0.10%1.98%0.59%0.00% 0.49% other services 2.82%1.05%3.64%13.77%1.04%4.04%0.00% 3.34% public administration 0.00%0.01%0.00%1.45%0.04%0.22%0.00% 0.18% Sub Total Female 17.76%14.24%60.39%19.45%34.95%33.27%0.00% 27.45% Care 0.00% 99.14%99.17%99.16%17.34% Grand Total Workers % 0.00% 82.51%

Non Market Work Currently many studies have shown that a large percentage of women are involved in Non Market Work (NMW) Such work has not been included in national accounting and the value added generation cycle Makes women’s work and contribution invisible

Share of Non Market to Market Work and Value Total workers Total Non Market workers Total workers Total Non Market workers NMW to Total Value Added Imputed value Imputed/VA Male Female Total Note: NMW caters to care sector Source NSSO Round data Acknowledgement: Data support by Palash Baruah

Build Concept :Total Activity Accounting Build a framework where total activity of a person is quantified Classification of different types of activities: both MW and NMW Movement from one type to the other is a possibility and should be considered

A Schematic SAM including NMW

Policy Impacts For example, if policy impact leads to expansion of an industry Demand for women workers may rise Women can choose between NMW and MW. Accountability and recognition empowers women either way NMW helps governments in saving welfare funds. Market Work adds to recognized VA. Taxing etc can also follow: integration to mainstream

Concluding Remarks It has been well recognized that women are mostly involved in the small enterprises and in non-market work, which makes their contribution to the overall economy quite invisible. There is a lack of data on how much work the women are performing both in regular and unregulated in regular sector and in non-market activities Because of the very nature of such work there in no nationwide and systematic recording of such work Such data and accounting would help in understanding the interrelationship women have with different economic actors and GDP.