Call for competitive papers by young scholars from South Asia on “Labour Markets, Employment and Inclusive Growth in South Asia”

Call for competitive papers by young scholars from South Asia

Theme:  "Labour Markets, Employment and Inclusive Growth in South Asia"

Rapid economic growth in South Asia has not yielded commensurate returns in terms of better livelihood and employment conditions for its fast growing labour force. A large majority of the region's workers are engaged in low-paid jobs in the informal economy, resulting in widespread insecurity of livelihoods. The region has witnessed concentration of the benefits of growth among only a fraction of the population, and the exclusion of many. SARNET is a research and network programme of South Asian institutions and scholars coordinated by the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi, in collaboration with ILO and ESCAP, with support from IDRC (Canada). Its objective is to find ways to improve the nature of growth in South Asia so as to reduce the existing vulnerability of workers, to increase the quality of employment and to enhance social protection. The other objectives of the programme include capacity building of young researchers from the region who are interested in studying labour markets.

SARNET is issuing this first competitive call for papers on 'Labour Markets, Employment and Inclusive Growth in South Asia'. The topics and issues include, but need not be restricted, to the following: What has been the pace and pattern of employment creation in South Asia during the last two to three decades, and what kind of linkage can be seen with growth performance? Why is there a high level of informalization of jobs in South Asia? What kind of policies and institutions are needed to promote formalization? What are the constraints to manufacturing growth in South Asia? What are the dynamics of the emerging patterns of labour market inequality and social exclusion in South Asia? What kinds of changes are required in labour market institutions to generate high quality jobs and lead to growth for the promotion of inclusive development?

Young scholars (below the age of 35 years) of South Asian nationality (working either in the region or outside) are invited to submit proposals for empirical papers, covering any or all of the major South Asian economies, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SARNET supports gender parity and encourages women to apply. The proposals should include an abstract (of around 1000 words) outlining the main research questions, conceptual framework, methodology and empirical base of the paper. The paper (of about 8000 words) should not have been published earlier in any form. An amount of USD 3,000 would be paid for the accepted papers. The proposals and submitted papers would be reviewed by a committee of international experts. SARNET reserves the right to publish accepted papers in some reputed journals and/or in a book.

Proposals should be received by 21 August 2013. Authors of the selected proposals would be contacted by 1 September. Full drafts have to be submitted by 1 December 2013. The authors of the accepted papers would be invited to present their papers in a conference to be held in New Delhi during the middle of December 2013. Funds permitting, SARNET would provide travel subsidy and arrange accommodation of some authors from outside the region as well to enable them to attend the Conference.

Address for correspondence: Ms. Priyanka Tyagi, Communication Officer, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi, Email: priyanka.tyagi@ihdindia.org with a copy to: sarnet@ihdindia.org

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