Grant Amount: US$ 8,400

Keywords: ECONOMIC, EMPLOYMENT, PRODUCTIVITY, GENDER, INDIA

Geographic coverage: India

Objective

The objective of this project is to examine how different modes of information and communications technology (ICT) use impact labour markets in developing countries.

Research context

This project examines how different modes of ICT use impact labour markets where policy makers have encouraged ICT-based industrialization to simultaneously generate employment and improve economic productivity. While the emergence of a new ICT industry promises to generate employment, deploying ICTs to automate and rationalize existing industries also threatens to cause job loss and skill redundancies. The findings of this study provide policy makers in developing countries with insights into the trade-offs between improving productivity and employment generation when deploying ICTs.

Target beneficiaries

The results of the study benefit various agents seeking to ensure work and employment standards in developing countries such as policy makers and labour representatives, particularly those representing women workers. The findings of this research have contributed to the field of labour economy theory through advancing the understanding of the impacts of ICT diffusion in developing economies.

Outputs

The primary output of the project is an analytical report on the impact of ICTs on the labour market in India and its significance for other developing countries. The report is freely available to download at http://www.idrc.ca/panasia/ev-70651-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. A limited number of hard copies are also available for free distribution to those who request them. In addition to the analytical report, the project also generated at least 300 hours of interviews on the effects of ICT-based industrialization. The interviews are archived and preserved by the project coordinator, Dr. M. Vijayabaskar and are available to other researchers.

Research results and outcomes

While successfully completed, the project noted that it encountered several difficulties in conducting its research work. The first obstacle was the lack of an official database on labour conditions in the Indian Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sectors. The second more substantial difficulty was that the project found employers were reluctant to allow them to conduct interviews with employees. The project recommends that the state should provide a mandate compelling firms to allow researchers to conduct fieldwork, at least from government-recognized research institutions.

Despite these setbacks the research followed its planned course of development with some minor modifications. The research study began with a detailed review of the literature to locate the issue in larger theoretical debates on the impact of ICTs on labour markets. Subsequent to this exercise, the automobile and ITES sectors in India were selected for the focus of the research study. Secondary data pertaining to these two sectors was collected and used to stress the relevance of the choice and to delineate their key characteristics. The project went on to develop questionnaires and conduct interviews in each industry, modifying its approach due to the access issues mentioned above. Based on the findings of the research, one paper has been published and at the time writing another one was in the process of production. Papers based on this study have been presented in two Asia Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) conferences and at three conferences in India.

The study results offer a detailed analysis of how the new organizational shift towards a more global, flexible mode, relies heavily on deployment of ICTs to coordinate decentralized production and distribution. The study focuses on the impact this trend has had on the generation of quality employment, especially for women, and it covers such areas as skill polarization, de-skilling, disintermediation, gender neutrality, labour market flexibility and autonomy at work.

The study indicates that deployment of ICTs does increase employment opportunities for women. The ability of women to access such employment opportunities however depends upon first, access to skills and, second, a strong household-based care economy that allows them to move into high intensity paid employment. In addition, while ICTs may enable more employment opportunities for women, that does not imply improved gender equity. Many jobs remain highly gendered and the fluidity of the gendering process also allows re-gendering, whereby men occupy jobs traditionally seen as ‘feminine’.

The study stresses that the effects of introducing ICTs into the workplace depends on a wide range of technical, social and market factors. It does not however, see a clear correspondence between diffusion of ICTs and employment generation and quality of work. While ICTs enable the creation of new kinds of jobs they also undermine the need for other kinds of jobs. The net effect depends upon the nature of labour market institutions that facilitate labour to move from vanishing jobs to new ones. The study demonstrates that public policy plays a critical role in ensuring positive outcomes.

Project Duration

Start Date: April 2002
End Date: May 2003
Total Duration: 13 Months

Contact information

Dr. M. Vijayabaskar, Assistant Professor
Madras Institute of Development Studies
79, II Main, Gandhinagar, Chennai 600020, India
Telephone: +91 44 2441 2589 /1574 / 2295 / 9771
Fax: +0091 44 2491 0872
Email: baskarv@mids.ac.in

Website: http://www.mids.ac.in

Reference website: http://www.idrc.ca/panasia/ev-70651-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html