Tag Search: “jobs”

Why are MNREGA wages so low?

The widespread disruption of economic activity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many to turn to MNREGA work in rural India. In this post, Agarwal and Paikrashow that current wages under thee...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Need to keep open mind, pilot cautiously

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Sandip Sukhtankar contends that given the potential promise but obvious issues that need to be addressed, the proposal is indeed ripe f...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Weighing the costs and benefits

Presenting her perspective on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Farzana Afridi contends that in the net, we need to evaluate the relative cost and benefit of having a potentially administratively complex urban ...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Learning from the experiences of other countries

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Martin Ravallion suggests that three steps are needed: learning from other countries’ experiences with similar policies, conducting trials in various contexts befo...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Addressing ‘why’ before ‘how’

Commenting on Drèze's DUET proposal and related views, Ashok Kotwal argues that we need to consider the rationale for such an urban work programme, before diving into the design details.

  • Perspectives

DUET: Decentralise employment generation to urban local bodies

Dilip Mookherjee supports Drèze’s suggestion to decentralise employment generation to urban local bodies, and contends that the moribund nature of urban local government is a key reason for the neglec...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Employment programme in public works in small towns

Given the severe problems of unemployment and under-employment in urban India, particularly among the country’s burgeoning youth population, Pranab Bardhan emphasises the need for an employment progra...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Towards employment as a universal right

Debraj Ray contends that we should push forward with the agenda of employment as a universal right, and DUET would move that needle. He discusses two aspects of the proposal – keeping track of workers...

  • Perspectives

DUET: A proposal for an urban work programme

Jean Drèze presents a proposal for a simple scheme of subsidised public employment in urban areas, generated by multiple public institutions on their own initiative.

  • Symposium

Which jobs were ‘lost’ during India’s Covid-19 lockdowns? Evidence from online vacancy postings

Covid-19 and associated lockdowns across countries have had a devastating impact on the global economy and labour markets. In India, recent data show a historic economic contraction by 23.9% over the ...

  • Articles

Demographic shocks and female labour force participation: Evidence from 1918 flu pandemic

The Influenza pandemic of 1918 killed about 5% of India’s population. This article finds that districts most adversely affected by influenza mortality saw a temporary increase in the country’s female ...

  • Articles

Does caste identity still matter for occupational choice?

In today’s India, to what extent do people avoid jobs solely due to their sense of caste identity? This article discusses an experiment in rural Odisha that involves offering one-day jobs to workers i...

  • Articles