Migrant Labour in South India: Assessing Training, Wages, Well-being and Employment Security in the Construction Sector of Chennai

Abstract

In the 21st century, migrant workers are playing a vital role around the world. Especially construction migrant workers in Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore, where there is a high labour shortage for construction workers. Tamil Nadu is a lab        or-intensive state, but wages paid to local construction workers are high, and working hours are low. This is the main reason builders and contractors prefer construction workers from other states of India. Due to the backwardness of migrant construction workers family situation, workers are compelled to search for jobs in other states. Workers are looking for jobs, but they are not considering minimum wages and working hours in the construction sector. As per the state planning commission of Tamilnadu; The commission conducted study with 811 respondents for the report. It is revealed that majority of the migrant workers into the Chennai region are from the eastern and north-eastern region of India, in particular, from the states of Bihar, Odisha and Assam. They belong to the most backward sections of the society: 29 % belong to the Scheduled Tribes, 24% belong to the Scheduled Castes and 38% are from Other Backward Classes (OBC). The educational status of the majority of migrant workers is high school or below. The migrant workers are not very young and their average age is 32 years and two-thirds of them are married. They are also not considering accommodation, food, and sanitation. To look into this, the study was conducted to assess training, wages, well-being, and employment security in the construction sector of Chennai. The study adopted both primary and secondary data. The study found that the majority of construction workers migrated from Bihar to Chennai. A majority, that is, 53 percent of the respondents, had no formal education in the study area. The remaining 45.8 percent of the respondents studied up to primary education, and 1.2 percent that is, one respondent alone studied up to secondary education in the study area. It is noted from the respondents that there is no accessibility to schools in their native place, and they inferred that poverty is the main reason for not being able to access education. The study also recommended suitable policy measures to the government.