Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This research used an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine changing livelihood strategies of both rural and urban populations that are increasingly dependent on, or affected by, export industries. While studies tend to focus on working conditions inside factories, little is known about the changing livelihoods of those employed in booming export industries or about the wider impacts of these industries on rural populations. The research had three primary aims:to enhance our understanding of the impacts of industrial expansion on urban and rural households in developing countriesto improve our understanding of persistent poverty and 'poverty traps' in areas of rapid economic growthto inform policy interventions by the state, multinational corporations and international NGOs that aim to reduce poverty and improve livelihoodsField-based research was conducted in and around Tiruppur, a major garment manufacturing and export town in Tamil Nadu, South India. The data available from the UK Data Archive includes the quantitative responses to questionnaire surveys conducted with workers and villagers. Further information is available from the Transforming livelihoods: work, migration and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India ESRC Award webpage and the Department for International Development project webpage.
Main Topics:
The datasets include a survey of workers in Tiruppur and 4 village surveys: The worker survey collected data on caste, gender, age, skill, employment, employment history, and migration background. Workers were purposively selected from a range of factories to ensure all branches of the industry were included. The sample is therefore not representative of the entire workforce. The village surveys collected data on caste, gender, age, education, occupation, migration, land ownership and household assets. The census of commercial activities in these villages was incorporated into these surveys. In Village A the entire village was surveyed, in Village M 50 per cent of households were surveyed, while in Villages K and P 20 per cent of households were surveyed. (The data from the latter two villages has been combined into one dataset.)
Simple random sample
Purposive selection/case studies
Face-to-face interview
