Daily Labour Market in Delhi

This essay is a micro-empirical study of the daily labour market in Delhi. Based on a sample of workers from the job 'squares' in the city, it shows that the labourers in this market represent pauperisation of the peasantry rather than a migration of choice for better wages. Almost none of the workers possessed any awareness of the labour department of the state government, or about unions. Also, most of the labourers had no rational expectation of a formal sector job.