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 unemployment rate in urban areas for persons aged above 15 eased to 7.2% in July­-September 2022 from 9.8% a year ago and 7.6% in the previous quarter, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
• The unemployment rate was 6.6% for men and 9.4% for women. It was 9.3% and 11.6%, respectively, in July-­September 2021. 
• The worker-population ratio (WPR) also witnessed a marginal increase compared with last year’s. The WPR in urban areas for persons aged 15 and above stood at 44.5% in July­-September 2022, an increase from 42.3% in the corresponding period in 2021. It was 43.9% in April-June 2022. The WPR among men was 68.6% and 19.7% among women. It was 66.6% and 17.6%, respectively, in 2021.
• The labour force participation rate (LFPR) in urban areas for persons aged 15 and above, increased to 47.9% in July­-September 2022, from 46.9% in the corresponding period in 2021. It was 47.5% in April­-June 2022.
• The LFPR among men was 73.4% and 21.7% among women. In 2021, it was 73.5% and 19.9%, respectively. 

reference:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/unemployment-rate-dips-marginally-to-72-in-july%C2%AD-september-2022/article66180004.ece\