In Karnataka, 2.78 crore persons, or 45.62 per cent, of the total population of the state have enumerated themselves as workers.
T. K. Anil Kumar, director of Census Operations-Karnataka, said: “Among them, 1.82 crore are males and 96.02 lakh are females. In other words, 59 per cent of the total male population and 31.87 per cent of the total Female population are workers.”
In 2001 Census, the Work Participation Rate was 44.53 per cent, comprising 56.64 per cent male workers and 31.98 per cent female workers.
The work participation rate is defined as the proportion of total workers (main and marginal workers) to total population.
Among the districts, Chitradurga, with a WPR of 51.62 per cent occupies the top position, followed closely by Chikkaballapura, Hassan, Tumkur and Kodagu Districts with WPR of more than 50 per cent.
The lowest Work Participation Rate of 41.25 per cent is recorded in Bidar District preceded closely by Uttara Kannada, Gulbarga, Dharwad and Bijapur Districts with Work Participation Rate between 42 to 43 per cent.
The highest proportion of Male workers is registered in Mandya district (63.55 per cent) and the lowest proportion of male workers is recorded in Bijapur district (52.21 per cent).
With respect to female workers, the highest proportion is recorded in Chitradurga district (41.93 per cent) and the lowest proportion is registered in Bangalore district (24.61 per cent).
Main and Marginal Workers
Of the total 2.78 crore workers in the state, 2.33 crore persons, constituting 83.94 per cent of the total workers, are main workers and 44.75 lakh, constituting 16.06 percent are marginal workers.
Anil Kumar said “The proportion of main workers has marginally increased from 82.28 per cent in 2001 to 83.94 per cent in 2011. On the contrary, the proportion of marginal workers has slightly decreased from 17.72 per cent in 2001 to 16.06 per cent in 2011.”
The proportion of male main workers has decreased from 91.21 per cent in 2001 to 89.49 per cent in 2011, whereas, the female main workers has increased from 65.88 per cent to 73.39 per cent.
In respect of marginal workers, the proportion of male marginal workers has recorded a marginal increase from 8.79 per cent in 2001 to 10.51 per cent in 2011.
On the other hand, the proportion of female marginal workers has registered a sharp decrease from 34.12 in 2001 per cent to 26.61 per cent in 2011.
anil.u@thehindu.co.in