Arni’s Workforce: Segmentation Processes, Labour Market Mobility, Self-employment and Caste

Abstract

This chapter explores the character of the local rural–urban labour market, testing theories of labour market mobility and segmentation using a substantial survey from 1999 to 2000 along with field case material both in Arni and in nearby ‘suburban’ villages. It focusses on the commonest form of work in India accounting for 60 % of Arni’s workforce—self-employment—distinguishing it from wage labour (with which it is often conflated in labour economics and law). The social origins of petty-producing and trading firms are analysed along with the patriarchal domination of their respective households. Occupational reproduction is found to be substantially determined by caste; and social discrimination significantly restricts occupational and sectoral mobility. Self-employment expands by multiplication rather than accumulation. Arni’s ‘markets’ show clear evidence of persistent rural–urban, occupational–sectoral social and economic segmentation.