Current Status Irulas as a tribe are traditional snake and rat catchers. This is no longer their means of living, and over these years of existence they have been unable to find a sustainable occupation for themselves. They are unskilled in doing any kind of job. This could be either by working as laborers in the fields of the landlords during the sowing and harvesting seasons or by working in the rice mills. They also do some work in the landlord's house.
Fishing is also an occupation in some of the Irulas' villages.
Some of them also collect firewood from the forest to sell. The problem of these people is that, only some get money while the remaining just get some rice or other things in kind as a payment for their labor. Their economic hardships are also due to the fact that the society at large has been neglecting them over the years. The landlords under whom they work treat them as bonded laborers in many of these villages. The rice mill laborers live in appalling conditions.