Wage Rates in Rural India, 1998–99 to 2016–17

Arindam Das and Yoshifumi Usami
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Arindam Das: Senior Programme Manager, Foundation for Agrarian Studies, arindam@fas.org.in
Yoshifumi Usami: Research Fellow, University of Tokyo, yoshiusami@gmail.com

Journal, 2017, vol. 7, issue 2, 4-38

Abstract: This article revises and updates the agricultural and rural labour wage rate series compiled in Usami (2012) and examines trends in real wage rates in rural areas in India over the last two decades. The data in this article are compiled from the Wage Rates in Rural India (WRRI) reported in the Indian Labour Journal , a monthly publication of the Labour Bureau, Government of India. The data for the agricultural year 2016–17 are now available, and allow us to study recent trends in agricultural and rural labour wage rates. The reliability of published WRRI data are checked using unit-level data that are collected for the WRRI by the Field Operations Division of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Based on the updated series, we examine State-wise and all-India trends in the growth of wage rates, and find a clear division into two sub-periods. The first sub-period, from 1998–99 to 2006–7 was a period of stagnation, while the second sub-period, from 2007–8 to 2014–15 was a period of rapid growth in wage rates. However, the steady growth in wage rates of major occupations ended in 2015-16, recovering marginally during 2016–17. A change in definition of occupations in November 2013 makes it difficult to compare trends after 2013 with those before.

Keywords: agricultural labour; rural labour; wage rates; WRRI; NSSO; unit data; India; trends in wage rates; rural occupations. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fas:journl:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:4-38

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