7th Annual Report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

Description

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Context:

The Annual Report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) covering July, 2023 – June, 2024 has been brought out by NSSO.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is a survey that estimates key employment and unemployment indicators for India.

Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

The objective of PLFS:

To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate) in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status’ (CWS).
To estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’ and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

Indicators of PLFS Survey

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators like, the Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR), etc. These indicators, and the ‘Usual Status’ and ‘Current Weekly Status’ are defined as follows:

a. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.

b. Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.

c. Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.

d. Activity Status- Usual Status: The activity status of a person is determined on the basis of the activities pursued by the person during the specified reference period. When the activity status is determined on the basis of the reference period of last 365 days preceding the date of survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person.

e. Principal Activity Status (ps) - The activity status on which a person spent relatively long time (major time criterion) during 365 days preceding the date of survey, was considered the usual principal activity status of the person.

f. Subsidiary economic activity status (ss)- The activity status in which a person in addition to his/her usual principal status, performs some economic activity for 30 days or more for the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey, was considered the subsidiary economic activity status of the person.

g. Activity Status- Current Weekly Status (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.

Reports

Seven Annual Reports covering both rural and urban areas giving estimates of all important parameters of employment and unemployment in both usual status (ps+ss) and current weekly status (CWS) have been released so far.

These seven Annual Reports are brought out on the basis of data collected in PLFS during July 2017- June 2018, July 2018-June 2019, July 2019-June 2020, July 2020 - June 2021, July 2021-June 2022, July 2022-June 2023 and July 2023-June 2024.

7th Annual Report of the PLFS(July, 2023 – June, 2024)

The seventh Annual Report is based on the survey conducted from July 2023 to June 2024.

Key findings of the report

1) Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in usual status (ps+ss) for persons of age 15 years and above

It was 60.1% during July 2023 - June 2024. The same for males and females were 78.8% and 41.7% respectively.

Overall LFPR in usual status (ps+ss) for persons of age 15 years and above has increased from 57.9% during July 2022 – June 2023 to 60.1% during July 2023 – June 2024.

LFPR for females of age 15 years above in usual status (ps+ss)has increased from 37.0% during July 2022 – June 2023 to 41.7% during July 2023 – June 2024.

For males of the same age group, LFPR in usual status (ps+ss) increased from 78.5% to 78.8% during the same period.

2) Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in usual status (ps+ss) for persons of age 15 years and above

It was 58.2% during July 2023 – June 2024. The same for males and females were 76.3% and 40.3% respectively.

WPR in usual status (ps+ss) among females of age 15 years and above has shown an increase from 35.9% during July 2022 – June 2023 to 40.3% during July 2023 – June 2024. The overall WPR among persons of the same age group in usual status (ps+ss) has increased from 56.0% during July 2022 – June 2023 to 58.2% during July 2023 – June 2024.

3) Unemployment Rate (UR) in usual status (ps+ss)

It was 3.2% for both male and females of age 15 years and above during July 2023 – June 2024.

While the same for male has shown a marginal decline from 3.3% during July 2022 – June 2023 to 3.2% during July 2023 – June 2024, among females it has increased from 2.9% to 3.2% during the same time span.

4) Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons of age 15 years and above

In rural areas, LFPR increased from 48.9% in 2017-18 to 58.9% in 2023-24 while for urban areas it increased from 47.1% to 50.8%.

LFPR for male in India increased from 75.1% in 2017-18 to 77.5% in 2023-24 and corresponding increase for females was from 21.1% to 35.6%.

5) Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above

In rural areas, WPR increased from 44.8% in 2017-18 to 56.5% in 2023-24 while for urban areas it increased from 42.6% to 47.4%.

WPR for male in India increased from 68.6% in 2017-18 to 73.8% in 2023-24 and corresponding increase for females was from 19.2% to 33.8%.

6) Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above

In rural areas, UR decreased from 8.4% in 2017-18 to 4.2% in 2023-24 while for urban areas it decreased from 9.5% to 6.7%. UR for male in India decreased from 8.7% in 2017-18 to 4.8% in 2023-24 and corresponding decrease for females was from 9.0% to 5.0%.

Important articles for reference

PLFS

Unemployment

Sources:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2057970

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q.Consider the following Pairs:

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)	The percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
Unemployment Rate (UR)	The percentage of employed persons in the population.
Worker Population Ratio (WPR)	percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.

How many of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

A.Only one

B.Only two

C. All Three

D.None

Answer: A

Explanation:

Pair 1 is correctly matched:

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.

Pair 2 and 3 are incorrectly matched:

Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.

Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.

Activity Status- Usual Status: The activity status of a person is determined on the basis of the activities pursued by the person during the specified reference period. When the activity status is determined on the basis of the reference period of the last 365 days preceding the date of survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person.

Principal activity status (ps) - The activity status on which a person spent relatively long time (major time criterion) during 365 days preceding the date of survey, was considered the usual principal activity status of the person.