Financial Literacy, Welfare Scheme Utilization, and Economic sustainability among Leather Industry Workers in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Leather industry workers constitute an important segment of Uttar Pradesh’s informal labour force, yet many remain economically vulnerable due to low incomes, unstable employment, limited financial capability, and uneven access to welfare support. The study addresses the problem of how financial literacy and welfare scheme utilization influence the economic sustainability of leather workers. The objectives were to assess financial literacy, examine welfare awareness, registration, and benefit receipt, and analyze their relationship with economic sustainability. The study used a quantitative, descriptive, and analytical design based on primary survey data collected from 100 leather workers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a Financial Literacy Index, welfare participation counts, Spearman correlation, and regression analysis in SPSS. The findings show that financial literacy significantly improves welfare registration and, to some extent, benefit access. However, financial literacy alone does not strongly predict economic sustainability in simple models. Income emerged as the strongest determinant of economic sustainability, while welfare utilization did not show a clear positive effect on resilience. The study concludes that financial literacy is necessary for institutional access but insufficient without stable earnings and effective welfare delivery. Policy should therefore combine financial literacy interventions with stronger labour protection, income support, and improved implementation of welfare schemes for workers.