As the education level increases in Tamil Nadu, the unemployment rate also rises in the age group 15-29 years, and is significantly high at 13.5 per cent in the case of post-graduates and above, says a Labour Bureau report.

Also, 67 per cent of the surveyed households reported having no wage/salaried person, says the report on “District Level Estimates for the State of Tamil Nadu – 2013-14”, which conducted the study in January-June 2014. It covered 16,413 households, of which 8,883 were in rural areas and 7,530 in urban areas.

Tamil Nadu has the highest number (about 11 per cent) of business enterprises and stands second in total employment (about 10 per cent) in India, compared with a population share of about 6 per cent. In a reflection of the growing trend of casualisation of labour, about 44 per cent of the overall workforce in Tamil Nadu is employed as casual labour, followed by 29 per cent self-employed and only 27 per cent wage/salaried earners.

The trend is sharper in rural areas, where 53 per cent persons are employed as casual labour, followed by 30 per cent self-employed and only 17 per cent wage/salaried earners. However, in urban areas, the number of wage/salaried earners are higher at 42 per cent, followed by 30 per cent casual labour and 26 per cent self-employed, says the report.

Vocational training Indicating low penetration of vocational training in the State, the survey said only 5 per cent of the labour force had received/are receiving training, with the proportion of such persons higher in urban areas (5.3 per cent), against 4.9 per cent in rural areas.

While over 50 per cent those who got vocational training are wage/salaried earners, the self-employed make for 24.5 per cent, casual workers (23 per cent) and contract workers (1.8 per cent).

While the overall unemployment rate (rural and urban) is estimated at 2.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively, joblessness is significantly higher for urban females at 9.4 per cent (Usual Principal Status Approach, under which a person is considered in the labour force if he/she has spent a relatively longer time on economic activity during 365 days preceding the survey).

In rural areas, too, female unemployment was double that of males at 5.2 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively.

“District level estimates (by pooling Central and State samples) may go a long way for effective district level planning,” said the report.

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