1. Smriti Rao Economics and Global Studies
What can Women’s Work tell us about the Economy: A comparative analysis of India and the US
Smriti Rao
Economics and Global Studies

3. Defining the labor force
Working age population
In labor force
Unemployed
(actively looking for market mediated work)
Employed
(market mediated)
Not in labor force
“In the labor force” excludes most “unpaid production of goods and services for own consumption/family”
A third category: “reproductive labor” : the unpaid work of producing and reproducing the labor force itself.

4. Labor force participation rates, US

5. Labor force participation rates, US ages 16 and above
February 7, 2017.
Labor force participation rates, US ages 16 and above

6. Labor force participation rates, US ages 25-44
Male
Female
25-44 age group (child bearing age)
Women who are unmarried
African American women (Hispanic women saw an uptick in labor force participation rates)
Source: Avilas et al. 2010

7. The Indian labor force
More starkly divided into rural and urban, with 65% of the population in the former.
The dominance of “precarious” employment – no labor contracts, benefits, legal protections etc.
Only social safety net in most parts of the country is a weak “Public Distribution System”
Definition of “in the labor force” once again excludes most who perform “production of goods and services for own consumption/family consumption”.
Data on employment from the National Sample Survey (conducted once in 5 years)

8. Labor force participation rates: India, Age group 16-64

9. What could explain this decline?
1. An “income effect” If workers have access to more income from non-labor sources, they might have an incentive to work less. The primary such source for most workers is the earning of other family members, such as male partners. If valid, this would suggest that the decline in female labor force participation is due to improvements in the economy.

10. Explanations of decline.. contd.
2. A “discouraged worker effect” Quite the opposite argument that high rates of unemployment and a lack of employment opportunities cause workers to stop looking for jobs, dropping out of the labor force. Thus declining labor force participation would indicate an economy that is failing.

11. Female labor force participation has declined disproportionately amongst:
Women from households in the bottom three consumption quintiles of the population (those who are most poor).
The average real household consumption level for these three quintiles has either gone up less than that of households in the top quintiles or actually declined over this period
In rural India, women agricultural workers who are also married to male agricultural laborers.
These are daily wage workers, whose wages in real terms have been stagnant through a period of agricultural decline in the 2000s.
In urban India, women married to “non-salaried” daily wage workers
The research on “exclusionary growth” in urban India shows that the benefits of urban growth have remained confined to a small group of urban highly skilled salaried workers.

12. Explanations of decline.. Contd.
3. Changes in the nature and burden of reproductive labor.
Neither of the other two explanations acknowledge that “out of the labor force” may also imply “engaged in reproductive labor”
Increases in the time intensity of reproductive labor? (no data!) OR
Attempts to substitute “free” household production of good and services in order to cope with income shocks?

13. Exploring reproductive labor
The NSS asks only women who are “not in the labor force” if they are, instead, performing “domestic work” or “domestic with allied” work.
Allied work is the production of certain goods and services for own consumption, such firewood, water collection, the free collection of fruits and vegetables etc.
The National Sample Survey provides no guidance on what “domestic work” comprises.
Most research has conflated the two categories.

14. Exploring reproductive labor

15. Examples of ‘Allied activities’ in the NSS survey (Activities at least 10% of women reported)
Kitchen garden
Poultry
Collection of fish fruit
Firewood collection
Preparing cowdung cakes
Sewing/tailoring/weaving
Fetching water
Rural 99-00 14 33 15 39 49 28 51
Rural 09-10 25 26 19 43 30 37
Change 11 -7 4 -6 2
-14
Urban 99-00 3 1 5 6 23
Urban 09-10 7 24 13 8 -1 -4
-10
Note: Only those who reported their principal status as domestic or domestic and allied were surveyed for this module,
i.e. about 50% of all working age women.
Thus firewood collection reported by approximately 20% (40% of 50%) of working age rural women in

16. Indicators of reproductive crises
Basic food share of budget:
Share of all per capita non-processed food expenditure
We find that this share is positively correlated with likelihood of reproductive labor
Basic non-food share of budget:
Share of per capita expenditure on health, education, fuel and conveyance.
Again this share is positively correlated with likelihood of reproductive labor
Common Property Resource (CPR) land per household:
State-level averages from NSS survey of average community property resources.
We find this is positively correlated with the likelihood of “allied” work only
Use of the “Public Distribution System” for cereals/grains
We find that this is also positively correlated with being in the labor force

17. So what does women’s work tell us about the Indian economy
Women’s allocations of their time burdens do not suggest the operation of an “income effect” where they are able to enjoy more “leisure”.
Instead there is evidence of an inability to find decent work that will accommodate the burdens of reproductive labor their bear.
Attempts to increase female labor force participation that do not recognize/reduce or redistribute those burdens will fail.

18. And what does women’s work tell us about the US economy
Something very similar!
Male real wages have fallen since the 1990s, female real wages have been stagnant.
“Jobless” growth and two successive recessions reduced the chances of finding employment.
Substantial evidence of the polarization of the labor market. “Middle-skill level” jobs have declined.
Declines in employment have been greatest for age group, and for women without partners.
Little policy support for reproductive labor relative to other advanced countries.

19. A broader focus on work as both productive and reproductive helps provide a more complete picture of economy and of the nature of economic change.
A focus on women’s labor also helps illuminate some of the ways that the lives of women in one of the poorer countries in the world may resemble the lives of women living in one of the richest countries in the world.