ABSTRACT
It may be said that the upward mobility of workers in the informal sector and improvement in their socio-economic conditions are significant aspects of the inclusive growth pursued in India. However, although impressive economic growth has been achieved, especially since the inception of the economic reform, it has also been called ‘jobless growth’ because of the sluggish growth in employment in the organised sector compared to the sharp increase in the total number of workers. In contrast, employment in the informal sector and the number of informal workers have increased. Simultaneously, various studies have revealed the progress in terms of poverty alleviation and improved access to education and health services, among others. Given this context, this paper explores the background and realities of ‘jobless inclusiveness,’ that is, insufficiently inclusive growth which has not been accompanied by a sufficient increase in decent work. As such, the reality of the exclusion and inclusion that working people and their households have experienced, which is difficult to ascertain solely from macro-level data, is examined mainly based on long-term field surveys of factory workers and informal sector workers in Ahmedabad.
