The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector

The transformation of India's unorganized sector is important to its modernization, growth, and attainment of regional economic equality. This paper documents several key facts about India's unorganized sector in manufacturing and service...

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Main Authors: Ghani, Ejaz, Kerr, William R., O'Connell, Stephen D.
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:
WEB
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17738072/exceptional-persistence-indias-unorganized-sector
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15593
id okr-10986-15593
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-155932021-04-23T14:03:19Z The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector Ghani, Ejaz Kerr, William R. O'Connell, Stephen D. ACCOUNTING AGGREGATE GROWTH AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AVERAGE WAGE BUSINESS ACTIVITY BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS LEADERS BUSINESS REGISTRATION BUSINESS SERVICES COMPETITIVENESS COMPUTER HARDWARE COMPUTERS CONFIDENTIAL DATA CONNECTIVITY CONTRACT LABOR DATA CENTER DATA QUALITY DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DRIVERS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ELECTRICITY EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT GROWTH EMPLOYMENT GROWTH RATE EMPLOYMENT LEVEL EMPLOYMENT LEVELS EMPLOYMENT SHARE ENTERPRISE SECTOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENTS FEMALE LABOR FEMALE LABOR FORCE FIRM SIZE FUTURE RESEARCH GLOBALIZATION GROWTH PATH HIGH EMPLOYMENT HIGH ENTRY RATE HIGH ENTRY RATES HIGH LEVELS HOUSEHOLD ENTERPRISE HUMAN CAPITAL INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES INFORMAL ECONOMY INFORMAL SECTOR INNOVATION INNOVATION POLICY INSPECTION INSTITUTION JOB CREATION JOB DESTRUCTION JOB SECURITY JOBS LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION LABOR INTENSITY LABOR LAWS LABOR REGULATION LABOR REGULATIONS LABOUR LICENSE LITERACY LITERACY RATE LITERACY RATES LITERATURE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY MATERIAL MISSING VALUES NETWORKS OPEN ACCESS PAPERS PLANT PRODUCTIVITY POPULATION DENSITY PREVIOUS SECTION PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH PROPERTY RIGHTS RADIO RESEARCHERS RESULTS RURAL POVERTY SCIENTISTS SERVICE INDUSTRIES SERVICE SECTOR SMALL BUSINESSES SMALL MANUFACTURING TELEVISION TIME PERIOD TIME PERIODS TOTAL EMPLOYMENT TRADE LIBERALIZATION UNEMPLOYMENT UNPAID WORKERS USES WEB WORKER WORKERS The transformation of India's unorganized sector is important to its modernization, growth, and attainment of regional economic equality. This paper documents several key facts about India's unorganized sector in manufacturing and services. First, the unorganized sector is large, accounting for more than 99 percent of establishments and 80 percent of employment in manufacturing. Second, the unorganized sector is stubbornly persistent -- it accounted for 81 percent of manufacturing employment in 1989 and 2005. Third, this persistence is not due to particular subsets of industries or states, as most industries and states show limited change in unorganized sector employment shares. Fourth, the degree to which localized unorganized activity exists is important as it is associated with weaker production functions for manufacturing firms. Building from these facts, the paper investigates conditions promoting transformation by state-industry. Decomposition exercises find that both within and between adjustments for state-industries weakly reduce unorganized sector shares. The aggregate persistence instead comes from the covariance term, where fast-growing state-industries witness rising unorganized sector activity. Regressions quantify that growth in the organized sector by state-industry reduces the unorganized sector employment share, but only marginally reduces employment levels in unorganized activity. Analysis of the establishment size distribution highlights that entrepreneurship and larger organized sector plants are most important for transitions in the manufacturing sector, while small establishments play a key role in the services sector. 2013-09-04T18:14:37Z 2013-09-04T18:14:37Z 2013-05 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17738072/exceptional-persistence-indias-unorganized-sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15593 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6454 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Asia India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ACCOUNTING
AGGREGATE GROWTH
AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY
AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
AVERAGE WAGE
BUSINESS ACTIVITY
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS LEADERS
BUSINESS REGISTRATION
BUSINESS SERVICES
COMPETITIVENESS
COMPUTER HARDWARE
COMPUTERS
CONFIDENTIAL DATA
CONNECTIVITY
CONTRACT LABOR
DATA CENTER
DATA QUALITY
DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
DRIVERS
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ELECTRICITY
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH RATE
EMPLOYMENT LEVEL
EMPLOYMENT LEVELS
EMPLOYMENT SHARE
ENTERPRISE SECTOR
ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENTS
FEMALE LABOR
FEMALE LABOR FORCE
FIRM SIZE
FUTURE RESEARCH
GLOBALIZATION
GROWTH PATH
HIGH EMPLOYMENT
HIGH ENTRY RATE
HIGH ENTRY RATES
HIGH LEVELS
HOUSEHOLD ENTERPRISE
HUMAN CAPITAL
INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES
INFORMAL ECONOMY
INFORMAL SECTOR
INNOVATION
INNOVATION POLICY
INSPECTION
INSTITUTION
JOB CREATION
JOB DESTRUCTION
JOB SECURITY
JOBS
LABOR ECONOMICS
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
LABOR INTENSITY
LABOR LAWS
LABOR REGULATION
LABOR REGULATIONS
LABOUR
LICENSE
LITERACY
LITERACY RATE
LITERACY RATES
LITERATURE
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
MATERIAL
MISSING VALUES
NETWORKS
OPEN ACCESS
PAPERS
PLANT PRODUCTIVITY
POPULATION DENSITY
PREVIOUS SECTION
PRODUCTION FUNCTION
PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
PROPERTY RIGHTS
RADIO
RESEARCHERS
RESULTS
RURAL POVERTY
SCIENTISTS
SERVICE INDUSTRIES
SERVICE SECTOR
SMALL BUSINESSES
SMALL MANUFACTURING
TELEVISION
TIME PERIOD
TIME PERIODS
TOTAL EMPLOYMENT
TRADE LIBERALIZATION
UNEMPLOYMENT
UNPAID WORKERS
USES
WEB
WORKER
WORKERS
spellingShingle ACCOUNTING
AGGREGATE GROWTH
AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY
AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
AVERAGE WAGE
BUSINESS ACTIVITY
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS LEADERS
BUSINESS REGISTRATION
BUSINESS SERVICES
COMPETITIVENESS
COMPUTER HARDWARE
COMPUTERS
CONFIDENTIAL DATA
CONNECTIVITY
CONTRACT LABOR
DATA CENTER
DATA QUALITY
DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
DRIVERS
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ELECTRICITY
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH RATE
EMPLOYMENT LEVEL
EMPLOYMENT LEVELS
EMPLOYMENT SHARE
ENTERPRISE SECTOR
ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENTS
FEMALE LABOR
FEMALE LABOR FORCE
FIRM SIZE
FUTURE RESEARCH
GLOBALIZATION
GROWTH PATH
HIGH EMPLOYMENT
HIGH ENTRY RATE
HIGH ENTRY RATES
HIGH LEVELS
HOUSEHOLD ENTERPRISE
HUMAN CAPITAL
INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES
INFORMAL ECONOMY
INFORMAL SECTOR
INNOVATION
INNOVATION POLICY
INSPECTION
INSTITUTION
JOB CREATION
JOB DESTRUCTION
JOB SECURITY
JOBS
LABOR ECONOMICS
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
LABOR INTENSITY
LABOR LAWS
LABOR REGULATION
LABOR REGULATIONS
LABOUR
LICENSE
LITERACY
LITERACY RATE
LITERACY RATES
LITERATURE
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
MATERIAL
MISSING VALUES
NETWORKS
OPEN ACCESS
PAPERS
PLANT PRODUCTIVITY
POPULATION DENSITY
PREVIOUS SECTION
PRODUCTION FUNCTION
PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
PROPERTY RIGHTS
RADIO
RESEARCHERS
RESULTS
RURAL POVERTY
SCIENTISTS
SERVICE INDUSTRIES
SERVICE SECTOR
SMALL BUSINESSES
SMALL MANUFACTURING
TELEVISION
TIME PERIOD
TIME PERIODS
TOTAL EMPLOYMENT
TRADE LIBERALIZATION
UNEMPLOYMENT
UNPAID WORKERS
USES
WEB
WORKER
WORKERS
Ghani, Ejaz
Kerr, William R.
O'Connell, Stephen D.
The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector
geographic_facet South Asia
India
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6454
description The transformation of India's unorganized sector is important to its modernization, growth, and attainment of regional economic equality. This paper documents several key facts about India's unorganized sector in manufacturing and services. First, the unorganized sector is large, accounting for more than 99 percent of establishments and 80 percent of employment in manufacturing. Second, the unorganized sector is stubbornly persistent -- it accounted for 81 percent of manufacturing employment in 1989 and 2005. Third, this persistence is not due to particular subsets of industries or states, as most industries and states show limited change in unorganized sector employment shares. Fourth, the degree to which localized unorganized activity exists is important as it is associated with weaker production functions for manufacturing firms. Building from these facts, the paper investigates conditions promoting transformation by state-industry. Decomposition exercises find that both within and between adjustments for state-industries weakly reduce unorganized sector shares. The aggregate persistence instead comes from the covariance term, where fast-growing state-industries witness rising unorganized sector activity. Regressions quantify that growth in the organized sector by state-industry reduces the unorganized sector employment share, but only marginally reduces employment levels in unorganized activity. Analysis of the establishment size distribution highlights that entrepreneurship and larger organized sector plants are most important for transitions in the manufacturing sector, while small establishments play a key role in the services sector.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Ghani, Ejaz
Kerr, William R.
O'Connell, Stephen D.
author_facet Ghani, Ejaz
Kerr, William R.
O'Connell, Stephen D.
author_sort Ghani, Ejaz
title The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector
title_short The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector
title_full The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector
title_fullStr The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector
title_full_unstemmed The Exceptional Persistence of India's Unorganized Sector
title_sort exceptional persistence of india's unorganized sector
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2013
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17738072/exceptional-persistence-indias-unorganized-sector
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15593
_version_ 1764429521337974784