Disaggregated labor supply implications of guaranteed employment in India

Megan Sheahan (), Yanyan Liu (), Sudha Narayanan and Christopher Barrett
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Megan Sheahan: Industrial Economics

Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India

Abstract: How do household labor supply decisions change with the entry of a massive employment guarantee program? This paper explores the household labor allocation effects - disaggregated by gender, age group, task, and season - associated with India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Using three rounds of panel household survey data combined with project administrative recordsin Andhra Pradesh, our results suggest that participation in MGNREGS prompted an increase in overall household labor supply by about 12 days only in the summer slack labor season, mostly attributed to adult women. This expansion is not large enough to evade "crowding out" of some labor previously offered to non- MGNREGS labor tasks, and more so in the main agricultural seasons than the summer slack season. Time spent on paid and unpaid activities do not increase for youth and children in MGNREGS-participating households, suggesting no within-household substitution of labor towards younger members.

Keywords: labor; employment guarantee; public works; gender; MGNREGS; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 E24 J22 J38 J45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-mac
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Working Paper: Disaggregated labor supply implications of guaranteed employment in India (2015)
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