OCCUPATIONAL WAGE SURVEY SIXTH ROUND 2008 REPORT ON TEN

ENGINEERING  INDUSTRIES

CHAPTER - I

INTRODUCTION

1.1    GENESIS OF THE SURVEY

From time to time, the Government of India has constituted various commissions and committees, viz., Royal Commission on Labour (1931), Labour  Investigation committee (1944-45)  and  various wage fixing authorities to look into the subject of wage rates in the industrial sectors. Almost all such commissions and committees have critically commented on the absence and inadequacy of wage data for different occupations in the industries. Consequently, the need for reliable and accurate statistical data on occupational wage rates and earnings assumed greater importance in national planning for labour welfare.

It was because of these limitations and deficiencies in the occupational wage data that in the Second Five Year Plan, it was recommended that " urgent steps should be  taken to undertake a Wage Census". The Steering Group on Wages set up by the Ministry of Labour and Employment made a similar recommendation. In pursuance of these recommendations, the Labour Bureau conducted an Occupational   Wage Survey (OWS) during 1958-59 covering 44 industries comprising 37 manufacturing, 4 mining and 3 plantation industries. The objectives of the survey were to provide both the basic data for building-up index of wage rates for major manufacturing, mining and plantation industries and disseminate the information relating to wage  rates and average earnings of workers in different occupations in selected industries. As the results of the First Occupational Wage Survey were found to be very useful by the Planning  Commission, the Labour Bureau conducted Second Occupational Wage Survey during 1963-65, more or less on similar lines, with the same objectives and coverage.

The National Commission on Labour (1969)  examined the data collected in previous two rounds of Occupational Wage Surveys and recommended the conducting of such surveys periodically by Labour Bureau.

Consequently the Labour Bureau took up the Third Round of Occupational Wage Survey in 1974-79 in 81 industries and Fourth Round in 1985-92 covering 53 industries. The Fifth Round was undertaken in 1993-2001 covering all the 53 selected industries of the Fourth Round.

The Sixth Round was taken up in 2002 and  56 selected industries  would be covered during this round under different sectors( 45 Manufacturing, 4 Mining, 3 Plantation and  4 Service Sectors).A list of 56 selected industries is given at Annexure-I.

 The report on Four Service Sector Industries (Electricity Generation & Distribution, Railways, Public Motor  Transport and Ports & Docks), three Plantation Industries ( Tea, Coffee and Rubber), one Tea Processing Industry and four Mining Industries have already been released. The reports on five Textile Industries (Cotton, Woollen, Silk, Synthetic and Jute Textiles) and Textile Garments Industry are under printing. The present report relates to Ten Engineering Industries viz., Ship Building, Locomotives, Motor Vehicles, Motor Cycles/Scooters, Bicycles and Rickshaws, Air Crafts, Refrigerators and Air Conditioners, TV and Teleprinters, Computers and Watches & Clocks.

1.2    OBJECTIVES OF THE SURVEY

The  main objectives of the survey are:-

a.      To obtain occupation-wise data on employment, wage rates and dearness allowance  for building up Wage Rate Index Numbers; and

b.      To obtain data on  different components of pay roll earnings for different occupations for scientific studies of inter-industry and intra-industry differentials in earnings in Plantation, Mining,  Manufacturing and Service Sector industries.

1.3    SELECTION OF INDUSTRIES

The selection of industries for the Sixth Round was based on the following criteria;

a.      That the industry belonged to the organised sector;

b.      That the industry had an importance in the National Economy; and

c.      That the industry has significant share of employment in the organised industrial sector.

           Out of 56 industries  to be covered under the 6^th Round of OWS, 52 industries were selected by using the above criteria.  On the advice of the Ministry of labour and Employment, Government of India, four service sector industries which also formed part of industries in compilation of Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers released by Labour Bureau were also included in the 6^th Round.

1.4    SCOPE AND COVERAGE

The scope of the Occupational Wage Survey for Ten Engineering Industry extends to the entire country except the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and the Union Territory of Lakhsdweep. The coverage of the OWS for Ten Engineering Industries extend to all the Engineering Industries registered under sections 2m(i) and 2m(ii)of the Factories   Act,1948. Section 2m(i) and 2m(ii) of the Act refer to the establishments using power and employing 10 or more workers and those not using power and employing 20 or more workers on any day of the preceding 12 months, respectively.

The frame for the present survey is based on the frame of Ten Engineering Industries maintained by CSO(IS Wing), Kolkata, for the purpose of Annual Survey of Industries (ASI).

Occupation-wise wage data were collected only for those workers who conform to the definition of worker  defined under the Factories Act, 1948 as described below:

'Worker' means a person employed, directly or through any agency (including a contractor), with or without the knowledge of the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not, in any manufacturing process or in cleaning any part of machinery or premises used for manufacturing process or in any other kind of work incidental to, or connected with, the manufacturing process or the subject of the manufacturing process (but does not include any member of the armed forces of the Union).

The managerial, technical and clerical staff, though may be covered by the Act as workers, are excluded from the scope of the survey.  However, the supervisory personnel, whose duties besides supervision, generally involve considerable element of manual work are covered under the survey. Similarly, regular, badli and casual workers who have worked continuously for a period of at least one month preceeding the reference date have also been covered under the survey.  Contract workers working in the premises of the unit are also taken into consideration.  As per recommendation of the Study Group on Labour statistics, part-time workers and apprentices have also been included in the survey.

1.5    FIELD INVESTIGATION AND REFERENCE PERIOD

The field staff of the Bureau conducted the field work from October, 2007 to July, 2008.  The Economic Officers/Statistical Officers supervised the field work by visiting the sample units.  Senior officers also visited some of the sample units.

     The reference date for the collection of data was fixed as October, 2007 for Engineering  industries.  Wage period ending on the reference date or wherein the reference date fell was taken as the reference period for the collection of data under the survey.

1.6  COLLECTION OF DATA AND SCHEDULE

The data on employment,  wage rates, earnings, payment of dearness allowance etc. was collected from the sample units in the Schedule designed for the  survey. Data on employment, wage rates and earnings correspond to all manual workers in specific occupations in each case, while the data on pattern of dearness payment relates to all employees in the units, as it is not occupation specific. Data on pay roll earnings have been collected only for a sample of  workers  in each occupation in each sample unit.

     The Technical Advisory Committee on OWS constituted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, revised the OWS schedule in its first meeting held on 24^th January, 2006.  A facsimile of the revised Occupational Wage Survey schedule used in the current round, is enclosed as Annexure-II.

1.7    SELECTION OF OCCUPATIONS

The list of occupations for the Ten Engineering industries was prepared on the basis of pilot survey conducted for the purpose wherein two sample units were selected from each industry.  The occupations, which accounted for the bulk of the workforce in each sampled unit, were listed.  The occupations, which did not feature in the list but were listed in the sample units, were clubbed together and designated as the 'Miscellaneous' occupation.  The list of occupations along with job description is presented in Annexure-III.

1.8  GEOGRAPHICAL STRATIFICATION

     For the purpose of the survey, stratification of industries was done on the basis of areas of concentration of industry to reflect regional variations.  Each area of high concentration, generally a State or a group of States was taken as a separate stratum of the industry.  The geographical strata of Ten Engineering  industries are given below.

1.9. SAMPLING DESIGN AND  ESTIMATION PROCEDURE

     The  details of sample design and the estimation procedure have been presented in Annexure IV. However, the following points merit attention here.

a)  A two stage sampling design was adopted.  The    selection of units was the first stage, whereas, the selection of the workers employed in different occupations in the selected units formed the second stage.

b)  The sample has been designed in such a way as to  ensure that the estimates would not  differ from the true values by more than 5 per cent ( 10 per cent in some cases) with confidence co-efficient of 95 per cent.

c)  The first stage sample size was determined on the basis of the employment and co-efficient of variance of the average maximum wage rates revealed by the earlier round of the survey.  The formula used for the determination of the sample size at the industry level is given below:-

                    å W_i. S_i²                       n_o

   n_o  =  --------------------    and     n  =  ----------

            [0.05 . Ÿ / 1.96]²                   1  +  n_o/ N

 Where,

         N    =   Number of units in the frame.

d)  The sample size so determined was allocated in the strata of the industry in proportion of its share of units in the frame.

    e)   The frame in each stratum was further divided into two size classes, viz., Upper Size Class and Lower Size Class on the basis of the  average daily employment at the national level.  While allocating the sample size in both the size classes in proportion of its frame size within a stratum, it was taken care that at least two units were selected in each size class.

     f)  For the purpose of obtaining estimates in respect of the pay roll earnings of workers in each occupation, a predetermined sample of workers belonging to each category of sex/age and system of payment of wage was drawn from the selected units.

     The sample design and the estimation procedure recommended by the Central Statistical Organisation for Fifth Round of OWS has also been followed for the Sixth Round of OWS.

1.10 COVERAGE OF UNITS AND SAMPLE SIZE

     Table 1.1 shows the coverage of units and the sample size in the Ten Engineering Industries.  A total of 3140 units constituted the overall frame for the Ten Engineering  Industries.   Out of these, 434 units were selected in the sample.  This accounted for 13.82 per cent of the total units in the frame.  The percentage of units in sample to frame was 26.36 per cent in Ship Building, 38.56 per cent in Locomotives, 5.01 per cent in Motor Vehicles, 13.21 per cent in Motor Cycles/Scooters, 18.39 per cent Bicycles and Rickshaws, 29.17 per cent in Air crafts, 34.45 per cent in Refrigerators and Air Conditioners, 45.33 per cent in T. V. and Teleprinters, 10.34 per cent in Computers and 31.86 per cent in Watches & Clocks.