Hyderabad: Vijayawada men appear to be choosing classrooms over workplaces, with the city recording the country’s second-highest share of men outside the labour force who cited studies as the reason for not working.The latest National Sample Survey Office’s (NSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) estimates for million-plus cities show that 71.3% of men outside the workforce in Vijayawada said they were pursuing education, second only to Patna (79.6%) among the 47 cities surveyed.The trend was visible in other Telugu cities too. Greater Visakhapatnam ranked ninth with 56.1%, while Greater Hyderabad stood 12th with 54.3%. Both were above the average for million-plus cities (53.5%) and urban India (52.9%).The city-level PLFS, released for the first time, provides insights not only into employment levels but also into why people remain outside the workforce.The survey found that 29.9% of working-age men in Vijayawada were outside the labour force, higher than Greater Hyderabad (22.4%) and Greater Visakhapatnam (19.9%). In all three cities, education was among the biggest reasons keeping men away from jobs.Health and old age emerged as another major factor. These accounted for 39.5% of men outside the workforce in Greater Hyderabad and 39.4% in Vijayawada, slightly higher than the average for million-plus cities (38.9%). In Greater Visakhapatnam, the share was 35.9%.Other reasons, including household responsibilities, financial independence and lack of nearby jobs, played a limited role. In Hyderabad, for instance, only 0.2% of men outside the workforce cited household responsibilities as the reason, compared with around 1% across million-plus cities.Despite these numbers, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam remained among the better-performing cities in overall workforce participation.Under the usual status measure, Greater Visakhapatnam ranked seventh among the 47 cities, with a Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 56.2%, while Greater Hyderabad ranked 10th with 55.5%. Both were higher than the million-plus city average of 52.4% and the urban India average of 52.2%. Vijayawada recorded an LFPR of 50.7%, ranking joint 22nd.The picture was stronger among women. Greater Visakhapatnam recorded a female LFPR of 34.6%, ranking fourth among million-plus cities, followed by Greater Hyderabad at 32.9% (seventh) and Vijayawada at 30.8% (11th). All three were above the urban India average of 27.7%.The data presents a mixed labour market picture in Telugu cities. While a significant share of men outside the workforce are staying away for education, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam continue to record stronger workforce participation compared with the national urban average.
