40 SOCIAL SCIENTIST various types of unemployment within the formal sector. But such a view is misleading to the the extent that these developments are not separable. To a great extent, unemployment within the organised sector is the spill-over effect of unemployment in the unorganised sector. On the other hand, it is the failure of the organised sector to absorb labour at a significantly increased rate which is one major reason for the persistence of various types of unemployment within the organised sector. This paper seeks to analyse the structure of employment within the organised sector during the period 1977 to 1988. Attempt has been made to explore the forces which influenced the emergence of such an employment structure and to contrast the present structure with that existed before this period. DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS The definition of 'organised sector* in India has changed over time. Before March 1965, it included non-agricultural establishments in the private sector employing 25 or more workers and all establishments in the public sector. As of March 1965, the definition has been extended to include private establishments employing 10-24 workers also, on a voluntary reporting basis.1 In the early 1980s the 'voluntary basis' clause applied to establishments with 10-24 workers in the private sector was dropped.2 Thus the organised sector now includes a very significant part of the secondary and tertiary sectors. In this paper, the terms 'organised sector' and 'formal sector' have been used interchangeably. The same is true for the terms 'informal' and 'unorganised sector'. According the factory Act,1948, the factory sector consists of establishments using power and employing 10 or more workers each on any day of the preceding 12 months. By a special act from 1966, bidi manufacturing units have been included in the factory sector. Another result of the 1966 act is that the factory sector now also includes establishments employing 20 or more workers each but not using power. Hence the factory sector can be treated as a proxy for the organised sector. The non-agricultural sector, in addition to the coverage of the organised sector, includes non-agricultural establishments employing less than 10 workers. That is, in addition to the members of the organised sector, the non-agricultural segment includes a major part of the household industries, a significant part of retail trade, of private construction and so on. There has been a further change in the industrial classification of the organised sector from 1975 5 As a result, there is a problem in comparing data on organised sector employment before 1975 with the data after 1975. The concept of 'worker' in the 1961, 1971 and 1981 censuses has also changed.6 Thus, there are difficulties in comparing the employment