Role of Light Engineering Sector in Poverty Reduction Amongst its Employees : A Case Study of Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot Districts

Poverty is a multifaceted phenomenon relying on a number of different social, economic, social and demographic aspects. An understanding to the true perspective of nature, intensity, and causes of poverty can be considered as a prerequisite for effectual course of action to reduce poverty. The present study attempts to investigate the impact of various socioeconomic and demographic determinants on the poverty status of employees of different light engineering units, by employing primary data collected from 1201 SMEs working in Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot Districts. To estimate the probabilities of being poor, an econometric approach of logistic regression analysis with maximum likelihood estimation has been employed. Household size, age of household head and persons per room in a household are found to be positively associated with poverty. Education, female labor force participation, gender of the household head, physical assets like owning the house, structure of the housing unit, availability of services like electricity and sui gas and skill of the workers significantly reduces the chances of being poor. SMEs are also found to have a negative impact on the probability of being poor, adding positively to the argument that SMEs is this case are really contributing to enhance the living standard of its workers