Women in Agriculture

Lesson 26 : Women in Organized & Unorganized sectors

Occupational Profile Of Unorganised Labour

It is not easy to categories unorganised labour. Our effort is to make a broad consensus to include all sections of labour- self-employed or working for wages, whose income and living conditions are generally low and those yet to be organised into unions/associations. Unorganised labour is not protected sufficiently with employment security, minimum wages or income, social security measures etc., there may be laws or schemes for them, but in reality they have limited impact on this section of labour. Although many units in the unorganised sector are registered under different laws, they are minimally enforced, and hence, law cannot protect the worker.

Unorganised labour includes broad categories based on the labour processes, production relations and functioning of capital in the present Indian context, like self-employed workers in traditional non-agricultural occupations, self- employed workers in agricultural (cultivators), agricultural labourers, self-employed and wage labourers in trade and other services, workers in ancillary and small manufacturing units, casual and contract workers in organised (formal) sector, home workers, non-waged household workers etc.