About PLFS

• • In India, the National Statistical Office (NSO) has been quinquennially (over a period of five years) collecting data on employment and unemployment but from 2017 onwards, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) was launched by the NSO.

• The NSO is a wing of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

• It aimed to provide quarterly employment and unemployment data.
• Under the PLFS, households are selected in both rural and urban areas by providing 75 per cent weightage to households where at least one member has secondary education (Class 10) or above.
• PLFS is India’s first computer-based survey which 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 are defined as follows:
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 of the person.
• The PLFS also gives the distribution of educated and unemployed people, which in turn can be used as a basis for skilling of youth to make them more employable by industry. 
• It also provides data on the earnings of different segments of workers. 

Objective of PLFS 

• The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold: 
  • 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.
  • to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both Usual status and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2020-21. 

Highlights of the Report

• The unemployment rate saw a decrease of 0.6% and fell to 4.2% in 2020-21, compared with 4.8% in 2019-20. This means that only 4.2% of adults who looked for jobs could not get any work in rural and urban areas of the country in 2020-21. Rural areas recorded an unemployment rate of 3.3% and urban areas recorded an unemployment rate of 6.7%.
• The Labour Force Participation Rate, the percentage of persons in the labour force (that is, working or seeking work or available for work) in the population was 41.6% during 2020-21. It was 40.1% in the previous year. 
• The Worker Population Ratio was 39.8%, an increase from 38.2% of the previous year. WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
• Migrants are defined in the survey as a household member whose last usual place of residence, at any time in the past, was different from the present place of enumeration. The migration rate, according to the survey, is 28.9%. The migration rate among women was 48% and 47.8% in rural and urban areas, respectively.

Reference

https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/unemployment-has-decreased-says-plfs-for-2020-21/article65527578.ece