Marginality, social exclusion, labour force participation and urban poverty: A case study of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Labour has always been considered as major source of income and livelihood, and the labour market of Pakistan which provides an important source to alleviate poverty and raise the standard of living. The characteristics of labour i.e. age, gender, location, caste and religion makes labour market highly segmented. And these factors often make buyer bias which indeed causes a discrimination and exclusion in labour market. This study tries to investigate the issue of social exclusion which has been faced by marginalised class in labour force participation. While analysing trends of marginalised labour force participation, the role of social networks also take into account. The marginalised labour force has been selected based on religion and gender (minorities, women, transgender) which is the part of formal and informal labour market of the city Lahore, Pakistan. The study use logit modelling to analyse the role of social exclusion and other determinants in labour force participation of marginalised class and also evaluate the role of labour force participation in the poverty status of marginalised households. Results show a strong effect of social exclusion on labour force participation and poverty.