Why are the wages for farm labourers in Palampur less than minimum wages?
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Solution
To work on the agricultural fields, farm labourers are hired by large and medium farmers.
Labour is the most abundant factor of production, among all three factors of production.
As the opportunities of work are very limited in villages, there are more people who want to work as farm labourers.
Many of these families do not have any land of their own.
In Palampur, consider the example of a landless farm labourer who works on daily wages.
The Government had set minimum wages at Rs 115/- (April, 2011), but the daily wage worker in Palampur gets just Rs 80/-
Among farm labourers in Palampur, there is very heavy competition for work as a farm labourer, which results in a situation where people are willing to work for lower wages.