As per recent studies there are around 2 lakh migrant workers from other Indian States in Ernakulam district.
The study, commissioned by the Kerala Labour Movement, found that majority of the migrant workers were not at all registered with the Labour Department and hence were not eligible for the State government’s worker benefits. Even though the daily wages of the migrant workers were far better than in many other States, the migrant workers lived in pretty bad conditions.
The study on ‘Unorganised labourers in Ernakulam district’ was carried out by a former Economics Professor Martin Patric and his team of researchers. Its goal was to study the extent and nature of unorganised labourers in both the formal and informal sectors of the Ernakulam district’s economy.
Migration to Ernakulam district started in the 1980s, and initially the workers were mostly from Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States. But, in the second phase of migration that began in the late 1990s, thousands of workers started arriving from Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Assam, Manipur etc. Initially these migrants were employed in major projects of the Railways and the port. But gradually they spread their presence across the labour market. A lot of the migrant workers were employed as farm hands, masons, carpenters, and domestic and construction workers. Some of the major centers of migrant workers in Ernakulam District are Kochi, Perumbavoor, Muvattpuzha, Kalady and Kodanad.
The study, commissioned by the Kerala Labour Movement, found that majority of the migrant workers were not at all registered with the Labour Department and hence were not eligible for the State government’s worker benefits. Even though the daily wages of the migrant workers were far better than in many other States, the migrant workers lived in pretty bad conditions.
The study on ‘Unorganised labourers in Ernakulam district’ was carried out by a former Economics Professor Martin Patric and his team of researchers. Its goal was to study the extent and nature of unorganised labourers in both the formal and informal sectors of the Ernakulam district’s economy.
Migration to Ernakulam district started in the 1980s, and initially the workers were mostly from Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States. But, in the second phase of migration that began in the late 1990s, thousands of workers started arriving from Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Assam, Manipur etc. Initially these migrants were employed in major projects of the Railways and the port. But gradually they spread their presence across the labour market. A lot of the migrant workers were employed as farm hands, masons, carpenters, and domestic and construction workers. Some of the major centers of migrant workers in Ernakulam District are Kochi, Perumbavoor, Muvattpuzha, Kalady and Kodanad.
