Vulnerable Sites: Bottom-of-the Pyramid Blue-Collar Workers, Occupational Gendering and Earnings Disparity

Firdaus Khan () and Srinivas Surisetti ()
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Firdaus Khan: S.P. Jain School of Global Management
Srinivas Surisetti: TISS, Hyderabad Off-Campus

The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2023, vol. 66, issue 3, No 10, 855-883

Abstract: Abstract India is the world’s largest blue-collar recruiting market, yet this economy stays invisible and under-explored. This research examined the earnings opportunity of the bottom-of-the pyramid blue-collar worker, namely those who have not even cleared class X. The study analysed job postings across 13 Indian cities within 17 job profiles, on a popular blue-collar job portal and found significant disparity in earnings based on gender, job profile, and job location. Two-step clustering model revealed occupational gendering such that women will be kept out of certain jobs, and there was significant evidence of a masculinised skill perception within a significant proportion of the job postings. The image of the blue-collar worker is dominantly that of a male worker. The study found that high paying job postings such as delivery person and cook were associated significantly with a male requirement, while low-paying jobs ranging from housekeeping (including house maids) to receptionist formed the bulk of demand for women workers. Occupational segregation and cultural discrimination may be creating a structural bias against blue-collar women locking them in a constrained life position. However, men’s vulnerability was also observed in the data as the high paying delivery profile along with office boy/peon had lowest salary much lower than minimum wage. Online job-portals can offer an alternative research site to understand the challenges and precarious status of blue-collar workers, thereby addressing the data paucity issue. Excavating insights from such natural experiments can form a basis for developing appropriate educational, training and bargaining solutions for them.

Keywords: Blue-collar worker; Informal markets; Education; Skills; Earnings disparity; Occupational gendering; Gender gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E26 J01 J08 J15 J16 J21 J30 J42 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s41027-023-00454-5

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