The latest PLFS city estimates from the National Statistics Office seem to offer a hopeful story: India’s largest cities provide women with better jobs. In the 46 million-plus cities, 65.1 per cent of employed women are in regular salaried work, compared with 50.9 per cent in urban India overall. Yet female labour force participation in these cities is only 25.5 per cent, lower than the urban average of 27.7 per cent. Big cities produce better jobs, but the real question is why so few women can access them.

It should not surprise us that big cities have a higher share of salaried jobs. This is the equilibrium outcome of thicker labour markets. Large cities concentrate firms and utilities such as schools, hospitals and business services, along with more educated workers. Among women, 29.4 per cent in these cities have college-and-above education against 25 per cent in non-metro urban India. Once firms and skilled workers cluster together, more salaried work follows.

Nor is it surprising that employed women in big cities are concentrated in salaried jobs. Women place high value on non-wage attributes such as predictable hours, formal contracts, paid leave, safety, childcare and transport. Research shows that women’s participation rises with the expansion of white-collar work, which offers........

© Indian Express