Resources

Inclusive by Design – Cementing the Future for Informal Workers in India’s Construction Sector

Godrej Properties Limited has launched the report ‘Inclusive by Design: Cementing the Future for Informal Workers in India's Construction Sector’ in partnership with Dasra, to provide actionable insights on the systemic barriers that heighten the vulnerability of the informally employed workers in this sector. The construction sector employs the maximum number of informal workers, who are predominantly migrants. Fast-paced urbanization and high demand for a low-skilled workforce are pull factors for this vulnerable demographic. Government data estimates that the sector employs 57 million workers, a total of 50 million men and 7 million women. The construction sector is also the single largest absorber of informal workers. Due to the low entry barriers for recruitment, the industry employs a large chunk of the surplus of India’s non-agricultural workforce. The report demonstrates the lay of the land, the roles of different stakeholders involved (industry, government, non-profits, contractors, and community), challenges across workers’ journeys (at source, destination, and across), as well as, on how their social locations shape their interactions within the construction space. This is a clarion call to action for ensuring equity and dignity for these workers. India’s development story will be incomplete without harnessing the strength in numbers of this cohort.

Click here to see the top insights from the report: https://www.workersinvisibility.org/construction.html