Workers who own and operate an enterprise to earn their livelihood are known as ?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Self-employed.
Not every worker has an employer. A farmer cultivating the family land, a tailor running a small shop or a cement shop owner owns and operates an enterprise and earns a living from it. Such workers are self-employed; with about 57 per cent of India’s workforce, they are the largest of the three categories of workers.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) Regular Salaried Employees. — Incorrect. These workers are engaged by someone else and are paid wages or salaries on a regular basis. They work for an employer, not in their own enterprise.
Option (3) Casual Wage Labourers. — Incorrect. Casual labourers, such as construction workers, are hired by others and paid for the days they work. They own no enterprise and have no regular employment.
Option (4) Hired — Incorrect. Hired workers is the common name for the two groups above, regular and casual. Being hired by others is the opposite of running one’s own enterprise.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 13-05 S2 | – | – | 12-06 S2* 12-06 S3* | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “…Let us take three workers from the construction industry — a cement shop owner, a construction worker and a civil engineer of a construction company. Since the status of each one of them is different from another, they are also called differently. Workers who own and operate an enterprise to earn their livelihood are known as self-employed. Thus the cement shop owner is self-employed. About 57 per cent workforce in India belongs to this category.… …Such labourers are casually engaged in others’ farms and, in return, get a remuneration for the work done. Workers like the civil engineer working in the construction company account for 21 per cent of India’s workforce. When a worker is engaged by someone or an enterprise and paid his or her wages on a regular basis, they are known as regular salaried employees (see table 6.3).” |