'Handicraft workers lose their jobs'

Labour-intensive sectors such as handicrafts and textiles are bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown. Lakhs of people have also lost their jobs due to closure of several units in the last few years, according to a report by apparel exporters’ body AEPC.

The Apparel Export Promotion Council claimed that at least 45 lakh people in the textiles sector have lost their jobs in the last two years, mainly due to global economic slowdown and problems within the country.

“Ten per cent people have already lost their jobs in the textiles sector, including handloom, weaving, spinning apparel and handicrafts segments. The trend is continuing,” AEPC chairperson A Sakthivel said.

Textiles, which is India’s second-largest employment generating sector after agriculture, employs over 4 crore people. I “Over 125 cotton and fibre textiles mills in the country are estimated to have been closed in the last three years,” the AEPC chairman said.