"Disguised" Unemployment Once Again: East Pakistan, 1951–1961

Warren C. Robinson

American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1969, vol. 51, issue 3, 592-604

Abstract: The concept of "disguised" unemployment plays an important role in development theorizing, yet its empirical content is uncertain. This paper studies the problem in rural East Pakistan, a densely-populated rice-producing area of South Asia. It is shown, using data on output and workers per acre and cropped acreage, that between 1951 and 1961 the degree of "disguised" unemployment increased sharply, amounting to some 20 percent of the 1961 labor force. This is attributed to the rapid population growth, which had begun two decades earlier, plus the fixed supply of other factors. The labor surplus that developed seems to have been largely "disguised" through work-sharing, that is, a reduction in average hours worked per worker.

Date: 1969
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