NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Economics Chapter 13 Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues

Detailed, Step-by-Step NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Economics Chapter 13 Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues Questions and Answers were solved by Expert Teachers as per NCERT (CBSE) Book guidelines covering each topic in chapter to ensure complete preparation.

Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Economics Chapter 13

Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues Questions and Answers Class 12 Economics Chapter 13

Question 1.
Who is a worker?
Answer:
A person who is engaged in economic activity and hence, contributes to country’s GDP is a worker.

Question 2.
Define worker-population ratio.
Answer:
Work-population ratio is that ratio which is obtained by dividing the total number of workers in country by total population of the country and multiplying the result by 100.
\(\frac{\text { Total Number of Workers }}{\text { Total Population }} \times 100\)

Question 3.
Are the following people can be assumed as workers—a beggar, a thief, a smuggler, a gambler? Why?
Answer:
A beggar, a thief, a smuggler, or a gambler cannot be assumed as workers as they are not engaged in any productive economic activity, which may contribute to country’s GDP. These individuals are rather liability to the country.

Question 4.
Find the odd man out
(i) owner of a saloon
(ii) a cobbler
(iii) a cashier in Mother Dairy
(iv) a tuition master
(v) transport operator
(vi) construction worker.
Answer:
The cashier in Mother Dairy is the odd man as he is the only regular-salaried worker among the given workers.

Question 5.
The newly emerging jobs are found mostly in the ………………………..  sector (service/manufacturing).
Answer:
The newly emerging jobs are found mostly in the service sector.

Question 6.
An establishment with four hired workers is known as ……………….. (formal/informal) sector establishment.
Answer:
An establishment with four hired workers is known as informal sector establishment.

Question 7.
Raj is going to school. When he is not in school, you will find him working in his farm. Can you consider him as a worker? Why?
Answer:
Raj can be considered as a worker because he is engaged in a productive activity.

Question 8.
Compared to urban women, more rural women are found working. Why?
Answer:
Urban women are more secure than rural women. Due to insecurity of women in rural areas, they have to work harder. Large family size and less sources of income in rural areas make rural women work more than urban women. In India, out of 100 rural women, 30 are found working while out of 120 urban women, only 14 are found working.

Question 9.
Meena is a housewife. Besides taking care of household chores, she works in the cloth shop which is owned and operated by her husband. Can she be considered as worker? Why?
Answer:
Meena can be considered as a worker because she is engaged in a productive activity.

Question 10.
Find the odd man out
(i) rickshaw puller who works under a rickshaw owner
(ii) mason
(iii) mechanic shop worker
(iv) shoeshine boy.
Answer:
Of the given workers, rickshaw puller, mason and mechanic shop worker are employed by others and get rewarded for their work from others. Thus, the shoeshine boy is the odd man out as he is a self-employed worker.

Question 11.
The following table shows distribution of the workforce in India for the year 1972-73. Analyse it and give reasons for the nature of workforce distribution. You will notice that the data is pertaining to the situation in India 30 years ago!
Answer:

Place of Residence	Workforce (in millions)
	Male	Female	Total
Rural	125	69	195
Urban	32	7	39

In the year 1972-73, the total workforce in India was 234 million. Out of these, 195 million workers were in rural areas and 39 million workers were in urban areas. This indicates a greater proportion of rural population in total workforce as they were engaged in agricultural and allied sectors.

The rural workforce comprised of 125 million male workers and 69 million female workers. The urban workforce, on the other hand, comprised of 32 million male workers and only 7 million female workers. The participation of males was higher than the females in both rural and in the urban areas. Women usually lacked opportunities for acquiring education.

Also, families often discouraged female members to take up job and confined them to household works. Also, the females in the rural areas formed 36% of the workforce while those in the urban areas formed only 18% of the workforce. Agricultural sector in India suffered from low productivity and hence, rural people had low earnings. This resulted in widespread poverty in the rural areas.

Question 12.
The following table shows the population and worker population ratio for India in 1999-2000. Can you estimate workforce (urban and total) for India?

Region	Estimates of Popuiation (in crores)	Worker Population Ratio	Estimated No. of workers (in crores)
Rural	71.88	41.9	\(\frac{71.88}{100}X 41.9 – 30.12 100\)
Urban	28.52	33.7	?
Total	100.40	39.5	?

Answer:
The table below calculates the urban and total workforce for India:

Region	Estimates of Population (in crores)	‘ Worker Population Ratio	Estimated No. of workers (in crores)
Rural	71.88	41.9	\(\frac{71.88}{100}X 41.9 – 30.12 100\)
Urban	28.52	33.7	\(\frac{28.52}{100} \times 33.7=9.61\)
Total	100.40	39.5	\(\frac{100.40}{100} \times 39.5=39.66\)

Question 13.
Why are regular salaried employees more in urban areas than in rural areas?
Answer:
Regular salaried employees are more in urban areas than in rural areas due to the following reasons:

• Regular salaried jobs require educated and skilled employees. The process of training and education for attaining such skills cannot be accessed by the people in rural areas due to the lack of infrastructure, funds and awareness among rural people.
• Big companies are located only in the urban areas due to the presence of modern infrastructure.

Question 14.
Why are less women found in regular salaried employment?
Answer:
Less women are found in regular salaried employment due to the following reasons:

• Women education is not encouraged in India and hence, most women do not acquire professional skills required for regular salaried employment.
• Indian families discourage female to go out of the house to work and confine them to household work.
• In rural areas, women are illiterate and hence, they are not in a position to find regular salaried employment.

Question 15.
Analyse the recent trends in sectoral distribution of workforce in India.
Answer:
The table below shows the distribution of the workforce (in percentage) in different sectors:

Industrial Category	Place of Residence		Sex		Total
	Rural	Urban	Male	Female
Primary Sector	64.1	6.7	43.6	62.8	48.9
Secondary Sector	20.4	35.0	25.9	20.0	24.3
Tertiary/Service Sector	15.5	58.3	30.5	17.2	26.8
Total	100.0	100.0	100 0	100.0	100.0

(i) Primary sector is the main source of employment for majority of workers (49 percent) in India. Secondary and tertiary sectors provide employment to about 24 and 27 percent of the total workers respectively.

(ii) According to rural sector trends, 64 percent of the workforce depends on agriculture and allied activities for employment. Secondary and tertiary sectors employ 20 and 16 percent of rural workers respectively.

(iii) In urban areas, tertiary sector is the major source of employment. About 58 percent of urban workers are employed in the service sector. Secondary sector employs about 35 percent of urban workforce.

(iv) On the basis of gender, more women workers are concentrated in the primary sector. Men get opportunities in secondary and tertiary sectors as well.

Question 16.
Compared to the 1970s, there has hardly been any change in the distribution of the workforce across various industries. Comment.
Answer:
There has been substantial shift from agriculture to industries and service sector. Although primary sector continues to remain the main source of employment of workers over the last six decades, its share has decreased from 74 percent in 1951 to 50 percent in 201 1-12. With the process of development in the country, the share of employment is increasing in secondary and tertiary sectors. The share of industries has increased from I I to 24 percent and that of service sector has increased from 15 to 27 percent during 1950-2012.

Question 17.
Do you think that in the last 50 years, employment generated in the country is commensurate with the growth of GDP in India? How?
Answer:
Duringthe period 1950-2010, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India grew positively. Throughout the period, the country’s GDP was higher than the employment growth. During this period, employment grew at the rate of not more than 2 per cent. In the late 1990s, employment growth even started declining. Over the last 50 years, the gap between the growth of GDP and employment has actually widened. Thus, employment generated in the country does not commensurate with the growth of GDP in India.

Question 18.
Is it necessary to generate employment in the formal sector rather than in the informal sector? / Why?
Answer:
It is necessary to generate employment in the formal sector rather than in the informal sector because the formal sector has the following advantages:

• Job Security: Workers in the formal sector enjoy job security. They cannot be laid off as and when the employer wants. There are certain rules and regulations.
• Social Security Benefits: Formal sector employment provides various social security benefits such as pension, gratuity, provident fund, maturity benefits and group insurance, etc.
• Payment: Workers in the formal sector get monthly salary on regular basis.
• Working Hours: The number of working hours is fixed in formal sector.

Question 19.
Victor is able to get work only for two hours in a day. Rest of the day, he is looking for work. Is he unemployed? Why? What kind of jobs could persons like Victor be doing?
Answer:
Victor is under-employed as he is not working in his full capacity. He is not unemployed as he is working two hours in a day on casual basis. Persons like Victor usually work as delivery man, tutor, car washing, security guard, etc.

Question 20.
You are residing in a village. If you are asked to advice the village panchayat, what kinds of activities would you suggest for the improvement of your village which would also generate employment.
Answer:
The following are certain suggestions for the improvement in the village to generate employment:

• Promoting self-employment activities in the village
• Setting up of institutes to impart skills and technical knowledge
• Encouraging the formation of self-help groups

Question 21.
Who is a casual wage labourer?
Answer:
A casual wage labourer is the one who is casually engaged in the other’s firm and gets payment in return of the work done. Examples of casual wage labourers: construction worker, fruit pickers, carpenters, etc.

Question 22.
How will you know whether a worker is working in the informal sector?
Answer:
A worker is working in the informal sector if:

• he or she is paid very low wage;
• he or she is not provided with overtime, paid leave, holidays, leave due to sickness and other such benefits;
• his or her job is not secure; and
• the employer does not follow any rules and regulations.