Employment support to home-workers: the role of civil society

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of civil society in providing higher levels of employment and earnings compared to what labour contractors usually offer.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the primary survey data the authors have estimated econometric models to capture who is likely to join the civil society and whether joining actually improves the earnings.

Findings

The authors observe that a civil society not necessarily is able to provide employment opportunities on a large scale nor it is able to take a lead role in multiple activities. The binomial logit model is indicative that women from large households with greater domestic burden tend to join the civil society and subsequently their earnings increase. However, the lack of work consignment forces many workers to operate through the contractors. Not necessarily the functioning of a civil society ensures optimal outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

The survey was conducted on the members of only one civil society.

Practical implications

For a civil society to be successful active operation and a large scale coverage are important. The government and civil society closely may have to operate in order to reap better outcomes. Otherwise like government failures civil society failures can also be rampant.

Originality/value

A direct evaluation of civil society participation is done in comparison to those who do operate through the contractors.

Citation

Mitra, A. and Kumar, R. (2015), "Employment support to home-workers: the role of civil society", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 42 No. 12, pp. 1106-1120. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-02-2014-0046