Labour Utilization Pattern in Handloom Silk Weaving in Assam under Co-operative and Non Co-operative Coverage

The present study was undertaken to examine the labour utilisation pattern of member weaver household of cooparative and non-member weaver household in handloom silk weaving and there by to assess whether there has been any differences in labour utililisation among two categories of respondent.The study was carried out in five villages of Sualkuchi area of Kamrup district of Assam where most of the weavers' cooperatives are prevalent. Primary data were collected from 150 respondents comprising of 100 member weaver household of the coopertaive and 50 non-member weaver household of the same locality to analyse the impact made by the handloom silk weavers' cooperative on their member weaver household in labour utilisation.The study reveals that the annual household employment from weaving in member household was significantly higher (432.05 mandays) than the non-member household (t = 5.24^∗∗). Average annual labour employment in weaving per loom in member household was higher than the non-member household.Similarly; absolute share of labour employment per loom in all the operations was higher in member household than the non-member household. It is also observed that hired labour accounted for the major share in the annual employment per loom in all the size groups of member and nonmember household.