Poor industrial performance of West Bengal no doubt owes much to the presence of large proportion of small
and micro, mostly own-account, unregistered units engaged in ‘low productivity’ manufacturing activities. A
more significant feature that helps understand the state’s poor performance is the profusion of ‘manufacturing
services providing’ units during the first decade of the present millennium. In particular, ubiquitous presence of
‘job work units’(JWUs) in the state’s unregistered manufacturing sector not only explains its low industrial
productivity but also indicate that in absence of decent job opportunities elsewhere, the surplus labour has
turned to job work out of their sheer distress conditions. The study attempts to measure the prevalence of and
changes in subcontracting activities carried out in the state, in terms of their shares in total number of units,
workforce and contribution to domestic product.