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An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the employment pattern of labourers in rural Punjab. 530 rural labour households have been selected from 22 villages for the survey. The study found that the low productivity region has more contract labourers and the medium productivity region has more casual labourers. The proportion of females in rural labour employment is very low. The participation of females is more in casual employment. The highest proportion of rural labourers belongs to the age group of 30-45 years in all three productivity regions. The education level of sampled rural labourers is very low. The number of days of employment and average daily wage rate of the rural labourer is higher in the medium and high productivity regions.

The main objectives of the paper are:

1. to examine the nature of employment of rural labourers across the regions.
2. to analyse the gender-wise composition of rural labourers across the regions.
3. to study the distribution of rural labourers according to the age structure and level of education
4. to examine the inter-regional variations in the days of employment and wage rate of rural labourers.

Punjab has made tremendous progress in the production of food grains after the adoption of new agricultural technology. The agricultural development in Punjab has been accompanied by an increase in employment in agriculture up to the early eighties. However, after the mid-1980s, more mechanization and increasing use of labour-substituting inputs like weedicides and herbicides caused substantial displacement of labour in agriculture (Rangi and Sidhu, 2004). The agricultural sector is not capable of creating additional opportunities for gainful employment for the increasing population. During the late 1990s, the agricultural sector in Punjab witnessed a significant slowdown which further decreased the employment-absorbing capacity of this sector (Sidhu, 2002). The absolute number of cultivators is declining with a corresponding increase in the number of agricultural labourers (Motkuri et al., 2019).

Rural non-farm employment is considered to be very important in reducing poverty among the rural masses by providing additional employment opportunities in the rural areas. While the traditional sector absorbs most of the unskilled workers in rural areas, income is mainly concentrated in the sectors which require higher educational attainments, professional skills and greater access to credit (Coppard, 2001). It is also generally seen that most of the employment opportunities in the rural non-farm sector are casual in nature and more of the workers combine it with agricultural off-season. Therefore, in this paper, an effort has been made to analyse the employment pattern of labourers in rural Punjab and various latest studies are also discussed through out the paper. 

The current study is based on primary data. For the purpose of data collection, multi-stage stratified random sampling method have been  used.

The sample design is a three- stage stratified sample given as under:

1. Selection of districts;
2. Selection of villages; and
3. Selection of households.

The whole state has been divided into three regions for data collection based on agricultural productivity namely low, medium and high productivity regions. One district has been chosen from each region. The Mansa district from low productivity region, S.B.S. Nagar from medium productivity region and Ludhiana from high productivity region have been chosen. One village has been selected randomly from each development block of the selected districts. The Mansa district has five development blocks, the S.B.S. Nagar district has five, and the Ludhiana district has twelve. Thus, a total of twenty-two villages have been chosen from the three districts. From all of the rural labour households in the villages, one-tenth of the households had been randomly chosen for the survey. As a result, 530 rural labour households from 22 villages have been chosen. Out of 530 rural labour households, 163 from Mansa district, 175 from S.B.S. Nagar and 192 from Ludhiana district have been chosen. Out of 530 rural labour households, 229 households are agricultural labour households and 301 are non-agricultural labour households.

Simple averages and portion are used for analysis.

Nature of Employment of Rural Labourers

The composition of rural labourers according to their nature of employment has been reflected in Table 1. The distribution of the sampled rural labourers according to their employment status is not uniform across the three productivity regions. The low productivity region has more contract labourers and the medium productivity region has more casual labourers. The share of contract labourers in the total rural labour employment is the highest in the low productivity region followed by the high and medium productivity regions. Further, the proportion of casual labour employment is the highest in the medium productivity region i.e. 61.76 per cent. This proportion is 49.60 and 58.60 per cent, respectively for the low and high productivity regions.

In the case of agricultural labour households, the proportion of contract labourers is the highest in the low-productivity region followed by the medium-productivity and high-productivity regions. The share of casual labourers is the highest in the high-productivity region. This proportion is 36.61 and 39.67 per cent, respectively for the low and medium productivity regions. The non-agricultural labour households have got more casual employment throughout the year. That’s why the share of casual labourers is higher as compared to contract labourers in the case of non-agricultural labour households. The share of casual labourers in the low, medium and high productivity regions is 69.13, 71.08 and 65.11 per cent, respectively. The contract labourers have a very low proportion in all three productivity regions. Their proportion ranges from 28.92 per cent in the medium productivity region to 34.89 per cent in the high productivity region.

The above analysis shows that as the rural economy is moving from the traditional agricultural sector to the modern industrial sector, the share of contract labourers in the total employment of rural labourers is declining. The share of casual workers in non-farm employment grew steadily. Mishra and Singh (2019) conclude that the conversion of cultivators into casual labourers implies distress-driven diversification. This is posing a very serious problem for their survival. There is a need to develop some activities like cottage and small-scale industries, road construction, rural development programmes etc. which provide throughout the year employment to rural labourers.

Gender-Wise Composition of Rural Labourers

The gender-wise composition of the sampled rural labourers has been reflected in Table 2. The proportion of females in rural labour employment is the highest in the high productivity region as compared to other regions. It is 29.06 per cent in the high productivity region as compared to 23.86 per cent in the low productivity region and 22.79 per cent in the medium productivity region. In contract as well as casual employment, the share of females is lower than that of the males. The participation of females is more in casual employment as compared to contract employment in all the three productivity regions. The share of female labourers in casual labourers is 47.57, 33.33 and 44.21 per cent, respectively in the low, medium and high productivity regions. While, the share of female labourers in contract labourers is only 0.53, 5.77 and 7.60 per cent, respectively in the low, medium and high productivity regions.

For agricultural labour households, the proportion of female labourers is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the medium and low productivity regions. Female labourers mostly engaged in casual employment. Only in the medium productivity region, the share of females in contract labourers is 4.11 per cent. The share of males in casual employment is less than females in all three productivity regions. This is due to the reason that the work in the agricultural sector is seasonal and requires no formal skills. So, more women can get jobs in the agricultural sector on casual basis. The share of females in casual employment is the maximum in the low productivity region and the lowest in the medium productivity region. Whereas, the share of males in casual employment is only 25.61, 33.33 and 25.84 per cent, respectively in the low, medium and high productivity regions. In the case of non-agricultural labour households, the proportion of female employment ranges from 18.79 per cent in the low productivity region to 22.98 per cent in the high productivity region. The proportion of females in casual employment is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the low and medium productivity regions. 

Hence, the above analysis shows that the proportion of female employment in rural areas of Punjab is very less. Further, the share of females in casual employment is more than the share of females in contract employment. The agricultural sector is the only sector where the share of females in casual employment is more than males. The participation of rural women in the non-farm sector is very low. The active participation of rural women in the non-farm sector can increase their income which can ensure their family income and increase the standard of living (Islam et al., 2022).

Age-Wise Composition of Rural Labourers 

Apart from gender composition, age composition is also an important characteristic of rural labour employment. Any sector with more persons in the relatively older age group, especially an age group more than 45 years indicates the persistence of old and successful units (Harris, 1987) while a greater proportion of the younger age group either indicates that the units are relatively new and are on experimental stage or that the sector is not much remunerative and hence people just use it as a stepping stone and move out of it as soon as they get any other employment opportunity outside this sector. Table 3 indicates that most of the rural labourers belong to the younger age group in all three productivity regions. Their proportion ranges from 45.34 per cent in the medium productivity region to 51.57 per cent in the high productivity region for this age group. A very small proportion of the rural labourers belong to the age group of 0-15 years and above 60 years in the three regions. This shows that half of the sampled rural labourers is from the younger age group in all the productivity regions. The proportion of contract labourers for this age group is the highest in the high productivity region and the lowest in the low productivity region. The proportion of casual labourers for this age group ranges from 46.28 per cent in the high productivity region to 52.97 per cent in the low productivity region. The share of contract labourers is more than the casual labourers in the age group of 15-30 years. Whereas, the share of casual labourers is more than contract labourers in the age group of 45-60 years in the rural areas of Punjab.

For the agricultural labour households, most of these labourers belong to the age group of 30-45 years in all the three productivity regions. The proportion of agricultural labourers in this age group is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the low productivity and medium productivity regions. The proportion of contract labourers for this age group ranges from 45.20 per cent in the medium productivity region to 66.29 per cent in the high productivity region. The share of casual labourers in this age group is the highest in the low productivity region and the lowest in the high productivity region. In the case of non-agricultural labour households, most of the labourers are from young age group i.e. 30-45 years. The share of non-agricultural labourers in this age group is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the medium productivity and low productivity regions. The proportion of casual labourers ranges from 43.79 per cent in the high productivity region to 48.54 per cent in the low productivity region for this age group. More than 80 per cent of the contract labourers are in the age group of 15-45 years in all the three productivity regions.

Distribution of Rural Labourers According to the Level of Education

The differences in household income of rural labourers can mainly be explained by the differences in educational attainments. In a rural economy, the persons with lower educational attainments can find jobs as wage labour in low paid traditional activities. The formal and more remunerative jobs are available to those who possess higher level of education (Shylendra and Thomas, 1995). The distribution of rural labourer according to the level of education has been presented in Table 4. The proportion of the illiterate rural labourers is the highest in the medium productivity region followed by the low productivity and high productivity regions. Only in the high productivity region, 0.49 per cent of the rural labourers have got education up to graduation level. The proportion of rural labourers educated up to matric level ranges from 19.04 per cent in the low productivity region to 23.73 per cent in the high productivity region. The high productivity region is the most developed region and educational institutions are highly developed in this region.

The education level of the contract labourers is higher than that of casual labourers in rural Punjab. The proportion of illiterate labourers ranges from 14.10 per cent for contract labourers to 31.35 per cent for casual labourers in the medium productivity region. This may be due to the reason that the income of the contract labourers is regular which helps their wards get more education as compared to casual labourers. The proportion of casual and contract labourers who got education up to matric level is the lowest in the low productivity region followed by the medium and high productivity regions.

For the agricultural labourer, the proportion of illiterates is 26.45 per cent in the medium productivity region and 24.55 per cent in the low productivity region. The proportion of illiterates among contract labourers is more than casual labourers. Their proportion ranges from 14.63 per cent in the low productivity region to 31.25 per cent in the medium productivity region for casual labourers. The share of agricultural labourers educated up to matric level ranges from 18.75 per cent in the low productivity region to 20.78 per cent in the high productivity region. For the non-agricultural labour, the proportion of illiterates is the highest in the medium productivity region followed by the low and high productivity regions. The illiteracy among casual labourers is more than contract labour. Slightly more than 6 per cent of contract labourers and 31.37 per cent of casual labourers are illiterate in the medium productivity region. The proportion of non-agricultural labourers educated up to the matric level ranges from 19.46 per cent in the low productivity region to 25.96 per cent in the high productivity region. The education level of casual labourers is far less than contract labourers. This proportion of labourers educated up to matric level ranges from 12.62 per cent for the casual labourers in the low productivity region to 36.58 per cent for the contract labourers in the high productivity region.

Hence, the above analysis shows that the education level among rural labourers is very low. Very few rural labourers can get an education above the matric level. The reason behind their low level of education is low income and poverty. The education level of casual labourers is very low as compared to contract labourers because the income of the contract labourers is regular which helps them in getting more education as compared to casual labourers.

Days of Employment in a Year for Rural Labourers

It is well established that in the rural economy of a less developed country, the labour market is dominated by casual labour, time-related or piece-related employment with no assurance and security of employment and the status of employment of a worker is characterised not by zero employment but by large periods in the year when he or she is unable to obtain any work. Moreover, the low number of days of employment is responsible for irregular and low wage rates of rural labourers which push the majority of hired labourers below even the official poverty line. Here, in Table 5, we have tried to analyse the days of employment in a year for rural labourers. However, the distribution of days of employment of the rural labourers is not uniform across the three productivity regions. The number of days of employment for rural contract and casual labourer are the highest in the medium productivity region and the lowest in the low productivity region. The number of days of employment is 341 and 159 days per year, respectively for the contract and casual labourers in the high productivity region.

In the case of agricultural labour households, the number of employment days of contract labourers is 320 days per year in the medium and high productivity region and 313 days per year in the low productivity region. The casual labourer gets employment for 99 days in the medium productivity region, 95 days in the high productivity and 83 days in the low productivity region. This is due to the reason that work on casual basis in the agricultural sector is only available for 2 to 3 months per year for agricultural labour.  The non-agricultural contract labourer has received employment throughout the year in all three productivity regions. The days of employment for casual non-agricultural labourers is 196 days in the high productivity region,186 days in the medium productivity and 173 days in the low productivity region. In the high and medium productivity regions, the industrial sector is more developed and more work is available for non-agricultural labourers. While the low productivity region has a less developed industrial sector and there is not much work in the non-agricultural sector.

Average Daily Wage Rate of Rural Labourers

The annual earnings of the rural labourers depend on the number of days of employment and levels of wages. The wage rate is also used as a proxy for studying poverty and the standard of living of rural labourers. Higher wages represent the high standard of living and lower wages are responsible for the poverty and malnutrition of the rural labourers. Table 6 depicts the average daily wage rate of the rural labourers in Punjab. The average daily wage rate of the sampled rural labourer is not uniform across the three productivity regions. The average daily wage rate of the rural labourers is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the medium productivity and low productivity regions. This is because the high productivity region has more non-agricultural labour households as compared to agricultural labour households.

The average daily wage rate for the contract rural labourer is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the low and medium productivity regions. Whereas, this amount ranges from Rs. 273 in the high productivity region to Rs. 284 to in the low productivity region for the casual rural labourer.

For agricultural labour households, the average daily wage rate is the highest in the high productivity region and the lowest in the low productivity region. The results depict that the pressure of the labourers on the agricultural sector is more in the low productivity region as compared to the high productivity region. This leads to lower wages for the agricultural labourers in the low productivity region. The average daily wage rate for the contract agricultural labourer is Rs. 173 in the high productivity region followed by Rs. 167 in the medium productivity and Rs. 164 in the low productivity region. Whereas, the average daily wage rate ranges from Rs. 281 in the high productivity region to Rs. 294 in the medium productivity region for the casual agriculture labourers. In the case of non-agricultural labour households, the average daily wage rate in the low, medium and high productivity regions is Rs. 221, Rs. 226 and Rs. 228, respectively. Further, the average daily wage rate for the contract non-agricultural labourer is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the medium and low productivity regions. Whereas, the average daily wage rate ranges from Rs. 267 in the high productivity region to Rs. 280 to in the low productivity region for the casual non-agricultural labourer.

The analysis clearly shows that the average daily wage rate for the non-agricultural labourers is more than the agricultural labourers. This is because the labourers in the non-agricultural sector are skilled and get more wages.  The average daily wage rate of the casual labourer is more than the contract labourer both for the agricultural and non-agricultural labourers. 

The above analysis highlights that this distribution of rural labourers according to their employment status is not uniform across the three productivity regions. The low productivity region has more contract labourers and the medium productivity region has more casual labourers. The proportion of females in rural labour employment is very low. The participation of females is more in casual employment in all three productivity regions. The proportion of illiterate rural labourers is the highest in the medium productivity region followed by the low and high productivity regions. Only in the high productivity region, 0.49 per cent of the rural labourers have got education up to graduation level. The number of days of employment for rural contract and casual labourers are higher in the medium and high productivity regions. The average daily wage rate of the rural labourer is the highest in the high productivity region followed by the medium and low productivity regions. The daily wage rate for the non-agricultural labour households is more than the agricultural labour households. 

Suggestions

It has been observed from the study that the number of days of employment of the contract labourers is more than the number of casual labourers. Therefore, there should be an emphasis on promoting higher and technical education in rural areas so that casual labourers should take self-employment opportunities. To increase the days of employment for agricultural labourers, the government should have restored measures like the initiation of multiple cropping and allied agricultural activities like dairying, poultry, fishery, bee-keeping etc. in the rural areas of Punjab. There should be a focus on the creation of more jobs in an organised sector where employment is characterised by social security along with income and employment security. There is a need for the strict implementation of the Minimum Wage Act to increase the income and standard of living of these rural labourers. To increase the daily wage of agricultural labourers, the government should try to reduce the pressure of the population on the agriculture sector by shifting them to the non-agricultural sector. Efforts should have been made to make the agricultural labourers skilled by providing them with basic and technical education.

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