Labour Market in Urban Agglomerations: A Case from an Indian Global City

Abstract

The article explores salient features of the link between labour market and urban agglomeration, using National Sample Survey unit level data and field data. To capture the role of labour market in urban agglomeration, the authors present a case study of Peenya Industrial Estate of Bangalore, India considered to be the largest industrial estate in South Asia. An interesting pattern that emerges is that the odds in favour of participating in the formal work are much higher for persons with technical education in global cities in India. The nature of the labour market for highly skilled occupations is distinct from the labour market for low-skilled occupations, showing different flexibility conditions. While firms tend to use simple ways for lower occupations, strategies like referrals are applied to source persons for higher occupations. Obtaining job information through informal sources like social contact does not turn out to be the significant determinant of odds in favour of on-the-job-search. As shown by the results, on-the-job search is rather driven by basic demographic variables like age, showing a discernibly inverse relation. Moreover, this inference is limited to the group of workers.