Socio-economic Conditions of Female Home Workers in Urban Amritsar, Punjab, India

Abstract

A home worker works in his/her own premises rather than that of the employer.  They provide employer with the desired product.  So, such people are employees at home rather that at work place.  Due to absence of direct employer-employee relationship and existence of intermediaries, such workers fall within the category of employed and self-employed workers.  There is no system to enforce minimum wages due to absence of formal contractual relationship between employee and employer or employee and employer's agent. As, such workers are not absorbed by formal sector due to their limited skills, so they are subjected to exploitation in various forms, by the person or organization for whom they work.  The mode of payment for home worker is on either piece rate basis or time rate basis depending upon the nature economic activity, in which he/she is involved. From detailed analysis of socio economic conditions of female home workers, this study concludes that Government, NGOs and general public should join hands together in order to uplift their condition in the society.