The fundamental piece missing here is that only the 25% agriculture equates to self-employed. The self-employed percentage of "35" if not a percentage of the population as a whole.
For example, a person who owns his own small-scale industry or a store might employ anywhere from 2 to 50 people. These additional people cannot be considered self-employed. - Vinit > -----Original Message----- > From: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > et] On Behalf Of Kragen Javier Sitaker > Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 6:18 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [silk] India as a nation of self-employed > > On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 21:30:10 -0700 (PDT), Udhay Shankar N wrote: > > > http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/04/20/stories/2006042 > 000341000.htm > > Are we killing the self-employed? > > R. VAIDYANATHAN > > ... > > Our economy is not that of wage earners and shareholders. A > significant > > portion of the economy consists of the self-employed who are both > > wage-earners and shareowners. The share of the proprietorship and > > partnership forms of organisations in the national income is 35 per > > cent, that of corporates around 15 per cent, of government around 25 > > per cent, and agriculture around 25 per cent. Combine > agriculture and > > the self-employed in industry and service sectors, nearly > 60 per cent > > of the national income is generated by the self-employed > and does not > > fall in the paradigm of either capitalism or socialism. > > That's fascinating. Does that mean India is the prototype for the > disintermediated free-agent economy of the future so beloved of the > microcorporation, cypherpunk, and Extropian crowds? What are the > biggest problems for the self-employed sector in India today? > > In Ecuador and Perú it seems that much of the countries are also > self-employed, but much of the employment is very-low-value work --- > e.g. retail sales. I don't object to the existence of retail, but I > think that people working in that sector generally have very limited > opportunities for adding value, and their abilities could generally be > applied better elsewhere. Likewise for transport (railway or non), > hotels, restaurants, and so on. > > On the other hand, self-employment is equally possible for people in > the following jobs: > - doctor > - lawyer > - machinist > - engineer > - construction worker (the article points out that many of India's > self-employed do this) > - manufacturing worker > - technical salvage (like Don Lancaster) > - computer programmer > - teacher > - writer > > Are there large obstacles to such people becoming self-employed in > India today? It seems to me that the obstacles for some of them are > becoming larger in the US; for example, teachers are mostly employees > due to students' desire for certifications and certifiers' desire for > control, and doctors are becoming more employees due to insurance > companies' desire for control. > >
