The Times of India
'Main workers' across religions see a dip
The proportion of people in each religious community seeking or available for work, too, showed an uptick. It was marginal among Christians and Jains, and staggeringly high among 'other' religious groups, mainly tribal communities.
These findings were recorded in 2011 by the census enumeration, and released on June 7, 2016. Although over five years have passed since this data on nature of work was collected, the Registrar General of India - as the census office is know - has released it only n ow.
While 44% of the working age population were main workers and 14% marginal workers, a staggering 42% were 'non-workers'. The vast bulk of these were women looking after domestic duties. This trend was reflected across various religious communities. Sikh and Jain communities had the lowest proportion of marginal workers but the highest share of non-workers. This is due to the lower participation of women in even marginal work, rendering them non-workers.
Interestingly, the census data includes numbers for those who were seeking or available for work among both the marginal workers as well as non-workers.
At the country level, the proportion of such work seekers had increased from 11% in 2001 to 15% in 2011. This trend was visible across all communities with share of work seekers among Muslims and Christians touching 16%.
