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 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has reported that unemployment rate in urban areas of the country has shown a decrease during the period April-June 2023.
• Similarly, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 and above and the worker-population ratio (WPR) have also improved during the period.
• This national survey processed details from 5,639 first-stage sampling units (FSUs) and 1,67,916 people from 44,190 urban houses.
• The LFPR in urban areas increased from 47.5% in April-June 2022 to 48.8% in April-June 2023. While it hovered around 73.5% for men during this period, for women, the LFPR increased from 20.9% to 23.2% during this period.
• The WPR in urban areas increased from 43.9% in April-June 2022 to 45.5% for persons aged 15 and above. For men, it increased from 68.3% to 69.2% and for women, it increased from 18.9% to 21.1% during this period.
• The PLFS claimed a decreasing trend in unemployment rate (UR) for persons aged 15 and above.
• UR in urban areas decreased from 7.6% in April-June 2022 to 6.6% in April-June 2023 for persons of age 15 years and above.
• For men, it decreased from 7.1% to 5.9% during this period and for women, it decreased from 9.5% to 9.1%.
• The Centre also claimed improvement in key labour market indicators in urban areas compared with those in pre-pandemic period (April-June 2018 to October–December 2019).
• The LFPR ranged from 46.2% to 47.8% during the pre-pandemic period and in the latest report it was 48.8%.
• The WPR was between 41.8% and 44.1% before the pandemic and now it is 45.5%.
• The unemployment rate ranged between 7.8% and 9.7% during the pre-pandemic period and at the latest survey it was 6.6%, which, according to the Centre, is lower than the unemployment rates observed in the quarters covered in the pre-pandemic period.

https://epaper.thehindu.com/ccidist-ws/th/th_delhi/issues/55092/OPS/GMMBRU483.1+GNJBRV1BB.1.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CUR%20in%20urban%20areas%20decreased,from%209.5%25%20to%209.1%25.