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 and annual 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.
• 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 Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has released its Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report for July 2023 to June 2024.

Highlights of the Report

• India’s unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above inched up to 3.2% between July 2023 and June 2024 from 3.1% in the same year-ago period.
• Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 60.1% between July 2023 and June 2024, with men at 78.8% and women at 41.7%.
• The worker population ratio (WPR) stood at 58.2% for July 2023-June 2024; WPR for men stood at 76.3% and women at 40.3%.
• In terms of broad employment status, which gives an idea of the quality of employment, the share of people having regular or wage employment increased to 21.7 per cent in 2023-24 from 20.9 per cent in 2022-23. 
  • On the other hand, the share of people engaged in self-employment, including unpaid household work or running a small business, increased to 58.4 per cent from 57.3 per cent.