Page 34 - Understanding Economics for Class 10

Share of Sectors in Employment (%)
100
90 18 31
80 11
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
70
60 25
50 Tertiary
40 71 Secondary
Primary
30
20 44
10
0
1977-78 2017-18
(Courtesy: NCERT)

Reason for not showing a similar shift in case of employment:
 Enough jobs were not created in the secondary and tertiary sector.
 Although, the production of goods went up by more than nine times during the period,
employment in the industry went up by around three times. In the service sector, production
rose by 14 times, but employment rose around five times.
 As a result, more than half of the workers in the country are working in the primary
sector, mainly in agriculture, producing only about one sixth of the GDP.
 Whereas, the secondary and tertiary sectors produce the rest of the produce but employ
less than half of the people.
 It means that there are more people in agriculture than required. So, even if few people are
moved out, production will not be affected. So, we can say that workers in the agricultural
sector are underemployed.
Example: Laxmi, a small farmer owning 2 hectares of land, growing crops like jowar and
bajra. She is mainly dependent on rainfall for irrigation. All her 5 family members work on
the plot throughout the year as they don’t have any other job options. Each one putting their
effort but no one is fully employed. Their labour efforts get divided. This is the situation of
underemployment, where people are apparently working but less than their full potential.
 This kind of underemployment is hidden in contrast to where it is clearly visible
that someone who does not have a job and therefore, is unemployed. Hence, it is
also called as disguised unemployment.
Now, if a landlord Sukhram, hires one or two members of the family to work on his land, production
on their own farm will not be affected because more than required members were working on the
farm. In fact, Laxmi’s family is now able to earn some extra income through wages.
 There are so many farmers like Laxmi in India. Removing a lot of people from agricultural
sector and providing them with proper work elsewhere, agricultural production will not
be affected. The incomes of the people who take up other work would increase the total
family income.
 There are thousands of casual workers in the service sector in urban areas like painters,
plumbers, repair persons and others doing odd jobs who search for daily employment.
Many of them don’t find work everyday. Similarly, there are people who may spend the
whole day working but earn very little like pushing a cart or selling something on the
streets. They are doing this work because they do not have better opportunities. This shows,
underemployment or disguised unemployment can also happen in other sectors too.

E-28 Economics Class X