ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the differences in the distributional characteristics of organised and unorganised manufacturing for labour-intensive and capital-intensive industries. The comparisons are helpful indications of their likely relationships with the production factors. The dichotomy of the labour-intensive and capital-intensive sectors is further extended to the corresponding industries. The distribution pattern of organised manufacturing is skewed towards capital-intensive industries. This necessitates policies with an effective readjustment mechanism to accommodate more labour into activities that are generally expected to use more capital than in the past. The distribution pattern is in sharp contrast for unorganised manufacturing. The growing presence of labour-intensive category points to the limitations experienced in having access to capital and in adopting capital-intensive production techniques. At the same time, the increasingly high capital share of capital-intensive unorganised manufacturing is suggestive of the relative unattractiveness of unorganised labour-intensive manufacturing, raising a serious concern about the prospects for labour-intensive industries in unorganised manufacturing. The findings have implications through providing future directions to attune the industry structure to accommodate the growing labour force compatible with the capital-intensive nature of manufacturing.
