WOMEN WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION OF ST(HILLS)S OF ASSAM, INDIA: A STUDY ON TAI-KHAMTIS

Decline in workforce participation rate among the women is a serious concern of India. According to the census of India 2011, female workforce participation rate in India is 25.53 percent while in Assam it is 22.5 percent which is lower than rate of India. The present research work was conducted to empirically examine the level and determinants of women workforce participation of Scheduled Tribe (Hills) women of Assam. For the convenient of the study ‘Tai-Khamti' community of the state is taken. This is one of the significant ST (Hills) communities of Upper Assam. Primary survey data are used for the analysis. Binary Logistic Regression Technique was employed to identify the determinants of women workforce participation of the mentioned community. The results suggested that monthly household income and education of women shows positive significant in women workforce participation. On the other hand, nuclear family, age of the husband/father and earning member in the family showed statistically significant result in determining workforce participation of TaiKhamti women. The findings of the study could be helpful for the policy makers to improve the quality of employment as well as the economic status of women.