Tamil Nadu’s unemployment rate of 8.1% is higher than national average

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s unemployment rate for July has declined to 8.1% from 13.5% in June, 33% in May and 43.8% in April. But compared to the national average of 7.7% for July and industrialised states like Maharashtra (4.4%) and Gujarat (1.9%), the state’s unemployment rate is still high.


“The unemployment rate is computed as the number of people not employed but willing to work and actively looking for jobs as a per cent of the total labour force. The total labour force is the sum of all those who are employed and those who are not employed but are willing and looking for a job,” said CMIE in its monthly report on unemployment rate.

Madras School of Economics director K R Shanmugam said the unemployment rate in Tamil Nadu will come down only when

construction activity restarts

across the state. Also, transport has to restart in rural areas, he said.

“All our construction activities are at a standstill as there is a shortage of workers. We don’t have enough carpenters or electricians to take up work in buildings under construction as well as in old buildings. Similarly, there is a huge demand for civil work force,” said Gateway Builders partner P Rajinikanthan.

He said his company was getting civil construction labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal before the lockdown.

“In the last few days, we started bringing them by flights, but once they land, they are quarantined for 14 days. This has affected our work. Since basic construction activity is yet to restart, all other related works are stuck and all those workers are unemployed,” he said.

Economists say apart from construction and

tourism sectors

, MSMEs and other big and small industries are yet to catch up with other sectors.

Automobiles and other big industries are yet to get back to normalcy as demand for their products is yet to pick up. All these contribute to unemployment, said Shanmugam.

Services, except information technology and finance, are still in doldrums. “Hospitality, tourism and other industries in the services sector are yet to come out of the lockdown. Unless these sectors open up and people start travelling, those employed in tourism and hospitality sectors will remain unemployed,” said Shanmugam.

Agriculture

is the only sector that is going full steam, but agricultural activities are seasonal, he said.