Work Behavior of the World's Poor: Theory, Evidence and Policy by Sharif Mohammed;

Author:Sharif, Mohammed;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge

Data and Stratification

The data in this study were derived from a sample survey, conducted in Bangladesh from June through August of 1985. This was a busy season involving the transplanting and harvesting of one crop (wet season rice, Aus) and the preparation of land so that another major crop (dry season rice, Aman) could be transplanted. Weather conditions in the study area during the period of investigation remained reasonably normal.

Three villages were selected for investigation: Monsha, a typical village with average economic standards; Kharandip, a relatively advanced village; and Motherganj, a relatively depressed village. The first two villages are located in the district of Chittagong, and the last in Thakurgaon. All households of each village were stratified into three groups: landless households holding up to 0.10 acres; near-landless households with 0.11 acres to 0.50 acres; and landholding households having over 0.50 acres of cultivable land. Households with any salary or permanent business income were combined with the landholding households. A few households were found to be of absentee landlords and were excluded from the study.

A total of 269 households, 15 percent of the stratified total, were randomly selected for investigation. Each working member of the household, including females and children, was interviewed, except in households with salaried or business-income earners, where those members were not interviewed.5 Information was collected regarding both household and individual worker characteristics. The questions asked included size of household; household members’ ages and sex distribution, and working status; landholdings and other assets; approximate market value of these assets; income; expenditures; and prices received and paid in goods transactions during each day of the week preceding the interview. Individual worker characteristics included age; marital status; disposition of time for the seven days prior to the interview; as well as the wage rate received and income earned. Time disposition for each day of the work period was recorded as time spent on wage employment; self-employment in income generating activities; the seeking or availability for work although unemployed; domestic work; social calls; and sickness.

Based on survey information, two dependent variables and eight explanatory variables are constructed for use in analyzing the labor supply behavior of workers between the ages of 15–60 years.6 Market supply of labor (LS0) and total supply (LS1) in days per week are the two dependent variables. LS0 is constructed by adding unemployed days to the number of days employed for wage. LS1 combines self-employed days with LS0 to provide a measure of total supply of labor.7

The nominal wage rate is deflated by a cost of living index to formulate the real wage variable (RW). The cost of living index is constructed using the prices of major food items weighted by their respective shares in the weekly household budget of the worker. RW2 is formulated to find out the quadratic shape of the supply curve, if the curve displays such a shape. Holding of cultivable land gives the variable, CLAND, and the real market value of non-cultivable land and other assets of the household provides AST.

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