Income, Employment and Saving Patterns of Migrant Women Workers in the Construction Industry

The research paper is based on income, employment and saving patterns of internal migrant women workers in the construction industry, with special reference to Coimbatore city of Tamil Nadu state in India. The women workers face several problems such as wage discrimination, sexual harassment and poor sanitation in the study area. Sanitation is one of the most environment quality issues linked with population growth. Access to bathroom and restroom facilities is strong indicators. In the study, it was found that 82.4 percent of the construction workers suffer from this problem. The main objective of the study is socio-economic status, income, employment and saving patterns. The study is based on primary data collected using a pre-tested interview schedule. As the information of migrant women workers in the construction sector is not known, 100 migrant women workers were approached as respondents from each of the five zones of Coimbatore City, based on convenient sampling method. But for want of complete set of information, the response of 22 respondents was dropped and the sample size stood at 478. The study reveals that migrant women workers were working on an average five days a week and eight hours a day. In the case of current wage per day, the average wage was found to be Rs. 391. The same was Rs. 132.24 per day at their native place (before migration). On an average, migrant woman workers are saving Rs. 844.87 per month. The wage level of the migrant women workers before the migration was very low compared to the prevailing wage rate of the migrated locality. The lower wage rate in the native place was the reason for women workers to opt for migration for getting higher wage rate. Hence, the wage rate is the dominant factor responsible for the migration of women workers.