3. Employment pattern

Public Sector vs Private Sector
Economic activities can be classified into public and private sector based on who owns assets and is responsible for the delivery of services.

 

 

 Employment Pattern:

 

In recent years, there has been a change in the employment pattern.

 

 The trends are

(a) increasing self-employment

(b) firms using fewer full-time employees and tending to offer more short-term contracts

(c) there has been a growth in part-time employment. This may be due to the lifestyle of the people.

 

Agriculture, in spite of a sharp decline in the gross domestic product, continues to be the largest employer in Tamil Nadu. This is because the non-agriculture sectors are yet to generate enough employment to affect a shift in the workforce. Most of the employment growth in Tamil Nadu has been contributed by the unorganised and informal sectors.

 

Employment in Iruvelpattu:  A case study

We can learn the employment scenario from the study of the village economy. Iruvelpattu is one such village in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu. This village has been studied for more than 100 years by many scholars. This village is also called Slater village, as Gilbert Slater was the first scholar working at the University of Madras to go with his students to study this village in \(1916\).

 

Over the years, many scholars surveyed the occupation of villagers and collected enough details of each person in the village. It was observed that the government brought social security awareness among the village people through primary health care, provision of schools and maintenance of the public distribution system.

 

Though this village underwent many changes, it is still dependent on agriculture as the main occupation. Look at the following table or chart.   

  

 

 

You will notice that during 1981, out of 100 families, 24% were engaged in non-agricultural labourers. In 2008, the member of families involved in such employment increased to 41%.