About SARNET

Background

High rates of growth and growing openness in South Asia have raised expectations of better livelihoods and employment conditions. However, economic growth has not brought about a marked improvement in employment conditions, for a very large proportion of the work force which remains in poor-quality, low productivity employment in the informal part of the economy.
A large majority of workers face insecurity of livelihood and vulnerability to contingencies, which reflects both the poor quality of the jobs they have and the absence of any institutionalized social security system.

Research Issues

In order to find ways to improve the nature of growth, the project will take up two key research questions:

• What policies are needed to modify the growth paths in South Asia so as to increase formalization and the proportion of decent jobs?
• How can social protection policies be designed so that they contribute to the objectives of increasing both formalization and the proportion of decent jobs?

Activities

• Flagship Publications
  i. South Asia Labour, Employment and Social Protection Report
  ii. Country Monographs
  iii. India Labour and Employment Report
• Country studies
• Policy briefs
• Data bank
• Training and Internships in labour economics for young researchers
• Competitive call for papers by young South Asian scholars
• Regional and national conferences & workshops