Job well done? Kerala's workforce grew over 16% in 3 yrs, says survey

Unemployment among graduates & above sees drop: some question data's relevance

- Rajesh Abraham @ Kochi

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), considered the most exhaustive and systematically conducted employment survey in the country, has good news for Kerala. The survey estimates that the total workforce in the state grew to 1.51 crore in 2023-24 from 1.30 crore in 2020-21, an increase of more than 16% over the three-year period.

What's even more encouraging is that the major drivers of this growth were women's employment and regular job opportunities. The survey says that female participation in the workforce in the state grew from 32.3% in 2020-21 to 36.4% in 2023-24. At the national level, it gained from 29.5% to 34.2%.

"While the growth of women in the workforce at the national level is mostly in the category of agriculture-based self-employment, often as unpaid helpers in family farms, in Kerala, the growth is mostly of regular workers in services," says C A Sethu, a researcher at Bengaluru-based Foundation for Agrarian Studies (FAS).