Beyond Labour-Force Participation: Gender Differences in Employment and Earnings in Assam, India
Using 2025 PLFS microdata, this study reveals that gender inequality in Assam extends beyond a significant participation gap to include women's disproportionate concentration in informal sectors and lower earnings, with observed characteristics explaining only 14.39% of the wage gap, thereby highlighting the need for policies targeting access to suitable non-farm and regular employment.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
To understand the economic lives of women in India, one must look beyond a simple headcount of who is working. For decades, economists have debated whether women's participation in the workforce follows a predictable pattern as a country grows richer, often imagining a curve that dips and then rises. However, recent thinking suggests that the story is far more complex. It is not just about whether a woman has a job, but what kind of job she holds, where she holds it, and how much she is paid. The quality of employment matters as much as the quantity. When a woman works in agriculture or runs a small home-based business, her economic security differs vastly from a woman with a regular salary in a city office. These distinctions determine not just daily income, but long-term stability and the ability to support a family. Understanding these layers is crucial for anyone interested in how economies truly function and how they can become fairer for everyone.
In the Indian state of Assam, a new study has peeled back the layers of this complex reality using fresh data collected throughout 2025. Researchers examined the lives of over 42,000 people from more than 10,000 households to see how men and women experience the labor market differently. They found that the gap between men and women is not a single problem but a series of connected hurdles. The most visible hurdle is simply getting into the workforce. In Assam, about 82 percent of men are working or looking for work, while only about 43 percent of women are. This gap widens significantly in cities, where fewer than 30 percent of women are participating in the labor force, compared to nearly 80 percent of men. The data shows that moving to an urban area does not automatically open doors for women; in fact, it often makes it harder for them to find work at all.
Even when women do find work, the nature of that work tells a different story. The study reveals that women are heavily concentrated in agriculture and self-employment, often working on family farms or in small household enterprises. In contrast, men are more likely to be found in construction, trade, and transport. While self-employment is a valid form of work, it often lacks the security and benefits of a regular paycheck. The researchers found that only about 16 percent of working women hold regular salaried positions, compared to nearly 19 percent of men. This difference is even more pronounced in rural areas, where women are far less likely to secure a steady, monthly wage job than their male counterparts.
The disparity deepens when looking at earnings. Among those who do hold regular salaried jobs, the pay gap remains stubborn. On average, a woman in a regular job in Assam earns about ₹14,046 per month, while a man in a similar position earns ₹21,002. This gap persists even after accounting for factors like education, age, marital status, and the number of hours worked. The researchers used a statistical method to separate the part of the gap explained by these observable differences from the part that remains unexplained. They found that the characteristics of the workers themselves—such as their education or where they live—could explain only about 14 percent of the earnings difference. The vast majority of the gap, roughly 86 percent, remains unexplained by these factors, reflecting a combination of unequal returns, omitted variables such as job tenure and employer characteristics, and other unobserved factors, rather than serving as a direct measure of discrimination.
The study also highlights that these issues are not uniform across the state. In rural areas, women are more likely to be working, but they are often working in agriculture or self-employment with lower security. In cities, the situation flips: fewer women work at all, but those who do are slightly more likely to find regular salaried jobs than their rural sisters. However, the urban labor market still excludes a large number of women, and those who do work there still earn significantly less than men. The researchers emphasize that these findings are based on a snapshot of time and cannot prove what causes these gaps, but they clearly show that the problem is multidimensional. It is not enough to simply encourage women to join the workforce; the focus must also shift to the types of jobs available to them and the fairness of their pay.
Ultimately, the picture that emerges from Assam is one of a labor market where gender inequality operates at every stage. It begins with who gets to participate, continues through the type of work they are allowed to do, and ends with how much they are paid for that work. The data suggests that economic growth and urbanization alone have not solved these issues. Instead, the structure of the economy itself seems to channel women into specific, often less secure, roles. To address this, the study points to the need for policies that do not just count heads but examine the quality of employment. Creating more suitable non-farm jobs, improving access to regular salaried work, and addressing the unpaid care work that often keeps women out of the formal economy are seen as necessary steps. The findings serve as a reminder that true economic inclusion requires looking past the simple question of whether a woman is working, to ask what kind of work she is doing and whether she is being treated fairly for it.
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