Tirupur knitwear exporters seek skilled workforce

03 Dec '05

2 min read

Labour-demanding knitwear industry of Tirupur is facing both happy and sad situations as on one hand, orders from importers this year piling up while lack of manpower planning in the region proves a stumbling block, on the other.

Recent rains have led to exodus of labourers from Tirupur units to resume farming following sufficient availablity of water for cultivation.

Given the present capacity expansion in the garment-manufacturing units in Tirupur, the yearly requirement of skilled workers is now estimated to be in the range 25000 to 30000.

But the low productivity of exisiting labour force and high attrition ratio among skilled workers compel garment units to seek trained workers, said Sekhar, co-ordinator of SIHMA Institute of Fashion Designing and Apparel Training.

At the same time, the industry has to adopt the policy of sponsoring job-oriented training to large workforce instead of establishing training schools in Tirupur by the industry itself.

Besides training facility, the industry would make the cost of training inexpensive and prove feasible for the labour-intensive garment units as the minimum time needed to provide skill in tailoring/cutting would be three to four months, feels Sekhar.

This drill of bringing in number of skilled workers and their retention would increase the cost for the Tirupur units and the surge in the production cost (by almost 20 percent), viewed an unnamed executive of leading garment house.

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