Women who are also educated understand that their right to participate in the workforce is increasingly being facilitated by the state, which in turn shows the state’s concern in mainstreaming gender in the labour market. “Overall, Kerala’s labour market is robust with an average wage, which is more than double the national average and gender-friendly. In other words, Kerala’s labour market is not only vibrant and formal but also gender-friendly,” he adds.

Conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), PLFS is a national representative sample survey that provides insights into the country’s labour market through indicators such as estimates of employment status, industry of work, and trends in self-employment, casual labour, and regular employment.

Among individuals with tertiary education (graduate and above), the share of unemployed persons declined notably both at the national and state level, the survey says. At the all-India level, it fell from 14.8% in 2020–21 to 12.9% in 2023–24. Kerala, which has historically experienced higher educated unemployment, saw a more pronounced drop–from 27.9% to 20.4% over the same period.

Rakkee Thimothy, a fellow at Kochi-based Centre for Socio-economic and Environmental Studies (CSES), however, adds a note of caution. “I am not sure about Kerala’s performance with respect to employment growth, as the period of comparison is around Covid time (2020-21) and 2023-24,” she said. According to her, Kerala has always had issues with employment generation.

Dr Shamna Thachaparmban, assistant professor of public finance at the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, the comparison is made against the pandemic period. “That comparison may not be fully appropriate from an academic perspective as during Covid time the base was low,” she said. But Sethu says the story would be the same if we extend the period to 2017-18.