Govt flags off domestic worker survey; unveils instruction manual

Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday flagged off the fieldwork of All India Survey on Domestic Workers and unveiled its instruction manual.

It will cover 742 districts of 37 states in the country.

"This survey will cover a database of five and a half lakh households across the country and cover all types of domestic services like cook, driver, housekeeping, tutors (for children), watchman etc. This evidence-based study will help the government in policy-making for this segment of workers," Yadav said, addressing at the launch of fieldwork of the survey.

Rapid urbanisation due to expansion would lead to migration of workers and a rise in the number of domestic workers, he added.

Yadav released an instruction manual with a questionnaire for the All India Survey on Domestic Workers being conducted by Labour Bureau, Chandigarh.

According to the latest data on the e-Shram portal, around 8.8 per cent of the registered 8.56 crore informal sector workers fall in the category of domestic workers.

Labour Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that if we take into account that we would cover 38 crore informal sector workers on the e-Shram portal then there are three to three-and-half crore domestic workers in the country.

He also said that domestic workers are the third-largest category of workers after agriculture and construction.

Domestic workers (DWs) constitute a significant portion of total employment in the informal sector. However, there is a dearth of data on the magnitude and prevailing employment conditions of DW, a labour ministry statement said.

Hence with the view to have time-series data on domestic workers, the central government has entrusted Labour Bureau to conduct an all- India survey on DWs. It will help the government understand the significant issues on the certain special and vulnerable segments of labour and will guide effective policymaking, it added.

All India Survey on Domestic Workers is aimed to estimate the number and proportion of domestic workers at the national and state level, percentage distribution of domestic workers for live-in/live-out, formal/ informal employment, migrant/non-migrant, their wages and other socio-economic characteristics.

The survey will also provide the household estimates of live-in/live-out domestic workers and an average number of domestic workers engaged by different types of households.

The main objectives of the survey are to estimate the number/proportion of DWs at the national and state level; household estimates of live-in/ live-out DWs and to find out the average number of DWs engaged by different types of households.

Under this survey, all 37 states and all 742 districts will be covered. At the All-India level, a total number of 12,766 first stage units (FSUs) i.e. 6,190 villages and 6,576 UFS blocks will be covered.

The Domestic Worker Survey collects information on the following broad parameters, including household (HH) characteristics such as HH size, religion, social group, usual monthly consumption expenditure, nature of dwelling unit.

Demographic characteristics, such as name, age, relation to head, marital status, general education level, usual principal activity status, subsidiary activity status and status of DWs.

In addition to this, it will also collect information on DWs such as their age of entry, social group, migrant status, vocational training/education, number of HHs served by DW, activities performed by them, the number of days worked, duration of work, type of remuneration and its frequency, type of contract, among others.

Information on Employer HHs is also collected such as their preferences of DW regarding gender and marital status, mode of payment of wages, the number of days worked, mode of engagement, whether DW services were availed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and medical support given to DWs.

The result of the All-India Survey on Domestic Workers is expected within a time span of one year.

The result of this survey will help the government understand the significant issues about certain special and vulnerable segments of labour and will guide effective policymaking in respect of domestic workers.