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 to provide quarterly employment and unemployment data.

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

• 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 such as:
  • 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 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 National Statistical Office has released its Quarterly Bulletin for the quarter July – September, 2023.

Highlights of the Report

• LFPR in urban areas increased from 47.9% in July – September 2022 to 49.3% in July – September 2023 for persons of age 15 years and above. While for male, LFPR increased from 73.4% to 73.8% during this period, for female, LFPR increased from 21.7% to 24.0% during this period. 
• WPR in urban areas increased from 44.5% in July – September 2022 to 46.0% in July – September 2023 for persons of age 15 years and above. For male, it increased from 68.6% to 69.4% during this period and for female, it increased from 19.7% to 21.9% during this period. 
• UR in urban areas decreased from 7.2% in July – September 2022 to 6.6% in July – September 2023 for persons of age 15 years and above. For male, UR was 6.0% in July – September 2023 while for female UR decreased from 9.4% in July – September 2022 to 8.6% in July – September 2023. 

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1980887