Investigating social development inequality among steel industry workers in Pakistan: A contribution to social development policies

Abstract

Social development of workers has always been a major concern in history. This study, therefore focuses on social development inequalities among steel industry workers in one development zone (Badami Bagh area and along Sheikhupura road of Lahore) of Pakistan. A total of 225 workers were interviewed randomly following the stratified random sampling technique. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique was used to construct the socioeconomic score (SES) index. Five categories of socioeconomic index were measured using multinomial logistic regression model. A correlation matrix was calculated for PCA. Results revealed that type/size of industry has negative relation while skill level has positive relation with SES. Job status and transport facility did not reflect a significant impact to SES of workers. Correlation matrix depicted that age, experience and medical treatment have positive relation while formal education, number of dependents and distance to job showed a negative trend in relation with SES.