In a state of 32 million where unemployment approaches 20 percent, one
Keralite worker in six now works overseas. The largest number work in
construction, although high literacy allows some Keralites to secure
office work. Foreign remittances augment the state’s economic output by
nearly 25 percent. Migrants’ families are three times as likely as those
of nonmigrants to live in superior housing, and about twice as likely to
have telephones, refrigerators and cars. [5]"
