You are here

  1. Home
  2. Podcasts
  3. International Development Seminars
  4. The afterlife of industrial work

The afterlife of industrial work

18 May 2022

Speaker: Alessandra Mezzadri, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, Department of Development Studies, SOAS

Discussant: Kaustav Banerjee, an Economist from Ambedkar University Delhi

Chair: Lorena Lombardozzi, Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated processes of labour transition from industrial work to the informal economy, which have always characterized the life of the working poor.

Exploring urban-to-rural labour transitions through a feminist political economy lens and adopting a life-cycle approach to labour and social reproduction, this paper analyses the post-industrial livelihoods and experiences of former Indian garment workers leaving the National Capital Region and moving back to Bihar.

Emphasis is placed on workers’ reasons for leaving the industry and their current employment and reproductive strategies. Findings are based on a sample of 50 former workers, identified in urban industrial hamlets and traced back to their place of origin. Respondents’ experiences are analysed based on semi-quantitative questionnaires and life histories.

Findings reveal that upon leaving the factory, workers find alternative informal employment through caste or social networks while using land as safety net. Farming and informal work are not alternative but rather complementary income and work strategies.

By adopting a life-cycle approach to studying labour transitions across formal and informal employment domains, this analysis contributes to policy debates on decent work. 

Share this page:

Contact us

To find out more about our work, or to discuss a potential project, please contact:

International Development Research Office
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)1908 858502
E: international-development-research@open.ac.uk