Kerala sees massive decline in labour strikes, boosting business image: Study

Thiruvananthapuram: The era of blaming labour strikes for the lack of investment in Kerala is now a thing of the past. A recent study by the Public Policy Research Institute Kerala (PPRI), an independent research organisation under the state finance department, reveals that labour strikes in the state has steadily decreased in recent years.

Kerala, which saw large-scale labour unrest during the 1960s and 1970s, recorded just seven strikes in 2018. This reduction in industrial disputes mirrors the state’s remarkable progress, as evidenced by Kerala topping the national 'Ease of Doing Business' ranking in 2023.

Over the past four decades, the number of labour strikes has come down by 94%. In 1979, the country witnessed 2,676 strikes, which declined to 1,320 by 1985. By 2018, the number of strikes had further dropped to only 69. The loss of working days due to these strikes has also seen a major decline, from 3.5 crore in 1979 to just 16 lakh in 2018.

The Labour Bureau regularly releases annual reports on industrial disputes and labour unrest across states, but the latest available data is from 2018.