Unpaid family member outnumber trade business

Unpaid family members are four times more than the number of paid workers in the wholesale and retail businesses in the country, said a survey.

"Out of 136,835 persons engaged in the trading business, only 27,506 are employed," said Distributive Trade Survey-2009, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

The survey also reveals that the number of female workers is more than 10 times less than the male workers. "Out of 27,506 employed, only 2,213 are women and the rest 25,293 are men," the survey said.

There are 58,816 registered wholesale and retail trading businesses across the country. More than half of the businesses at 37,545 are in the urban areas and the rest in the rural areas.

"Though the department had previously conducted a Trade Margin Survey that was meant to calculate contribution of internal trade to the GDP. This is the first time such an elaborate Distributive Trade Survey has been conducted," Shankar Lal Shrestha, director at the trade statistics department at the CBS said adding that it also gives a benchmark of internal trade.

The Trade Margin Survey -- that was conducted six years ago in 2003 -- is the basis of the CBS calculation of internal trade's contribution to GDP that is 13.97 per cent in 2009-10.

However, the Distributive Trade Survey has elaborate details of wholesale and retail trade and employment generated by both as well as capital formation and financial positioning that were not included in Trade Margin Survey.

The Distributive Trade Survey that took a year to complete has also provided quality data with more statistics and provided a new benchmark according to the new scenario.

Registered retail and wholesale entities in the country spend an average of Rs 3,750 per employee per month in pay and perks. "A retail and wholesale trading entity in the country spends Rs 94,000 annually in pay and perks in an average," the survey said.