WAGE RATES IN RURAL INDIA (2006-07) 

 

1.  SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS

 

The main findings of the data are summarised below :

 

a)  Agricultural occupations:

1.  All-India annual average daily wage rates in different agricultural occupations during the year 2006-07 varied widely from Rs.43.46 for male ‘herds-keepers’ to Rs.99.48 for male labour engaged in ‘well digging’; from Rs.34.43 for female ‘herds-keepers’ to Rs.56.44 for the female labourers engaged in ‘transplanting’ activities; and from Rs.29.62 for child ‘herds-keepers’ to Rs.42.67 for those employed in ‘transplanting’ occupations. 

Table 1 (a)

2.   Amongst agricultural occupations, ‘well digging’ was observed to be the highest paid occupation for men  possibly on account of the requirement of skill and  risk in the performance of the activity followed by ‘ploughing’ and ‘sowing’ occupations.  During the year 2006-07, the all-India average daily wage rates in ‘well digging’ varied from Rs. 96.59 in July, 2006 to Rs.102.61 in August, 2006

.    Table 1 (a)

3.  ‘Transplanting’ occupation fetched maximum wages for women followed by ‘harvesting’ and ‘threshing’ occupations.  The all-India average daily wage rates for women in ‘transplanting’ occupation ranged between Rs.53.20 in August, 2006 and Rs.59.28 in June,2007.

Table 1 (a)

4.   Children got highest wages in ‘transplanting’ occupation in the range of Rs.39.13 in July,2006 to Rs.44.63 in January,2007, followed by ‘sowing’ and ‘winnowing’ occupations.

Table 1 (a)

5. During 2006-07, ‘herds-keeping’ was observed to be the least remunerative occupation for men, women and child workers as the annual average daily wage rates in this occupation were reported to be as low as Rs.43.46, Rs.34.43 and Rs.29.62 respectively.

Table 1 (a)

  

b)         Non-agricultural occupations:

1.   The all-India annual average daily wage rates in non- agricultural occupations also varied widely from Rs.53.94 for male ‘sweepers’ to Rs.132.23 for male ‘masons’.   In case of  female and children, due to non-receipt of sufficient number of  quotations, the average daily wage rate could be calculated for ‘sweepers’ and ‘unskilled labourers’ only,  which worked out to be Rs.51.34 and Rs.50.03 for women and Rs 33.11 and Rs 31.83 for children respectively.

Table 1 (b)

2.  Amongst non-agricultural occupations, ‘masonry’ was observed to be the highest paid occupation for men,  followed by ‘carpentry’ and ‘blacksmithy’ occupations. During the year 2006-07, the all-India average daily wages for male ‘masons’ ranged between Rs.128.85 in July, 2006 to Rs.135.41 in June, 2007.

Table 1 (b)

 3.  ‘Sweeping’ was the highest paid occupation for women as their all-India average  daily wages  in that  occupation  varied  from  Rs.47.62  in  July, 2006 to   Rs.53.49 in March,2007 .

Table 1 (b)

4.   During the year 2006-07, the all-India average daily wages for children engaged as ‘sweepers’ ranged between Rs.31.67 in August, 2006 and Rs.35.67 in June, 2007. 

Table 1 (b)

5.  ‘Sweeping’ was found to be the lowest paid occupation for men during the year under reference with an all-India average daily wage rate of Rs.53.94.   For women and children ‘Unskilled labour’ was observed to be the lowest paid occupation with an average daily wage rate of Rs.50.03 and Rs.31.83 respectively.

Table 1 (b)

6.  The average daily wage rates for women were found to be generally lower than those for men in most of the occupations. These may be attributed to variation in the number of quotations as the wage differential based on sex was not that significant at sample village level.

7.   None of the female workers were  found engaged as ‘cobblers’ and  ‘tractor drivers’ and hence no wage rate was reported for these occupations during the year 2006-07. 

 

c)         Monthwise Average daily wage rates of states in Agricultural and non-agricultural occupations :

 

1.   Amongst states, the highest  average daily wage rates are reported in all the occupations in Kerala in all the months of the year.

          Table 3 (a) to 14 (b)

2.  After Kerala , in the  two hill states of  Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, average daily wage rates in all the months are higher  than developed states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.

              

  Table 3 (a) to 14 (b)

3.  The lowest average  daily wage rates in all the occupations for all the months of the year  are reported from  Madhya  Pradesh.

                Table 3 (a) to 14 (b)