Census 2011 shows increase in temporary workers

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday released the Census 2011. The data shows a 2.5 per cent increase in the number of people engaged in temporary work (jobs lasting less than three-six months).

The new findings reaffirm the trend of casualisation of labour as reflected in the recent employment survey of the Labour Bureau. Compared to findings of the labour survey of 2011-12, the Census finds a work participation rate that is much lower at 39.8 per cent, an increase of 0.7 per cent from the 2001 Census.

The Labour Bureau found a labour force participation rate of 52.9 per cent. Of the 39.8 per cent who are employed, at least 25 per cent worked less than three to six months. And of the 39.8 per cent employed, there was decline in the number of cultivators by seven per cent, going down from 31.7 per cent to 24.6 per cent.