Industry Trade Exposure and the Quality of Employment in India’s Manufacturing Sector

Globalization, trade and labour institutions have implications on the labour market affecting the regular nature of jobs and increasing dependence on contract labour. Using worker-level data for India’s manufacturing sector, this paper evaluates the influence of outward orientation of the worker’s industry on the informal nature of employment. We find that higher import penetration and export orientation of the manufacturing industries of workers promote employment of regular nature. However, the regular jobs come tied up with lack of job contracts in industries facing higher import competition. Export-oriented industries increase the chances of regular jobs with a written job contract.