Work, Labour, and Informality in Construction: Building Infrastructure, Marginalizing Workers

This paper examines the paradox of India’s construction sector, which symbolizes rapid infrastructural growth while remaining deeply reliant on an informal and vulnerable workforce. Tracing the shift in India’s post-1950 development trajectory, the study highlights how construction has emerged as a key driver of economic progress, yet continues to exclude a majority of its workers from the benefits associated with formal employment. Drawing on the International Labour Organization’s concept of “decent work,” the paper contrasts the security, social protection, and dignity available in the formal sector with the precarious realities faced by informal construction workers. The analysis underscores the structural roots of informality, including India’s transition from an agrarian to a service-oriented economy without a robust industrial base. It further explores the lived experiences of migrant labourers, who dominate the sector and often endure exploitative conditions such as insecure employment, absence of contracts, hazardous workplaces, lack of basic amenities, and exclusion from social security. Gender-based wage disparities, health risks, and instances of bonded labour deepen these vulnerabilities. Using secondary data, the paper also reveals gaps in welfare delivery mechanisms, including low and uneven worker registration and exclusion from government benefits. The study situates these challenges within the four pillars of the decent work framework employment, social security, workers’ rights, and social dialogue arguing that their absence perpetuates inequality and poverty. The paper concludes by emphasizing the urgent need for policy reforms, stronger institutional mechanisms, and inclusive labour protections to ensure that construction workers are not merely agents of development but also beneficiaries of it.