Latest news with #LabourForceParticipationRate
Indian Express
17-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Knowledge Nugget: What are key highlights of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and why is it UPSC essential
Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here's your knowledge nugget for today. (Relevance: UPSC has asked questions on labour productivity and unemployment. Understanding the associated terms with PLFS becomes important for your Prelims and Mains examination.) Given the growing demand for more frequent data about the labour market and enhancing the scope, relevance, and coverage of the surveys, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has come up with the first monthly bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). 1. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under MoSPI had launched PLFS in April 2017. Quarterly bulletins provide details of labour force indicators such as Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and Unemployment Rate (UR). In 2019, NSSO was merged with the Central Statistical Office (CSO) to form the NSO. 2. Earlier, the MoSPI released rural PLFS data on an annual basis and urban PLFS data on a quarterly basis, along with an annual report that combines data for both urban and rural on an annual basis. 3. The first monthly estimates, published by the National Statistical Office (NSO), are based on the current weekly status (CWS) approach, which measures the activity status of persons surveyed based on the reference period of the last seven days preceding the date of survey. 4. Basically, PLFS collects data in two ways — Usual Status (US) and Current Weekly Status (CWS). Broadly speaking, within the usual status, the survey respondent has to recall their employment details from the last one year, while in the CWS, the respondent has to recall the details over the past one week. 5. According to the CWS approach, the estimate of the labour force is derived by considering those who worked for at least 1 hour or was seeking/ available for work for at least 1 hour on any day during the 7 days preceding the date of survey. 1. India's unemployment rate stood at 5.1 per cent in April for persons aged 15 years and above, with the rate for males at 5.2 per cent and for females at 5.0 per cent. In urban areas, the unemployment rate stood at 6.5 per cent, while in rural areas, the unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above was recorded to be 4.5 per cent. 2. Females saw a higher unemployment rate at 8.7 per cent than 5.8 per cent for males in urban areas. In rural areas, however, the unemployment rate for females was lower at 3.9 per cent than 4.9 per cent for males in April. 3. The Labour Force Participation Rate for persons aged 15 years and above in the country stood at 55.6 per cent in April, with the rate for urban areas at 50.7 per cent and for rural areas at 58.0 per cent. The gender-wise split showed the low labour force participation rate of females at 34.2 per cent as against 77.7 per cent for males. 4. The female LFPR was lower for urban areas at 25.7 per cent than 38.2 per cent in rural areas for the age group 15 years and above. In comparison, the male LFPR stood at 75.3 per cent in urban areas and 79.0 per cent in rural areas. 5. The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which indicates the employment rate, was recorded at 52.8 per cent for persons of age 15 years and above in April. The WPR for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 47.4 per cent in urban areas and 55.4 per cent in rural areas. 6. As per the gender-wise breakup, WPR for females was 23.5 per cent in urban areas and 36.8 per cent in rural areas. For males, the WPR stood at 71 per cent in urban areas and 75.1 per cent in rural areas. (Note: These data are not for you to memorize it but to create a broader understanding. For example, the difference between the unemployment rate in rural and urban areas indicates the job creation pressures in the urban areas. The higher unemployment for females in urban areas could be due to (a) higher female preferences for education in urban areas than rural areas and (b) lower employment opportunities in urban areas than rural areas for females.) 📍The PLFS also tells the sectoral distribution of workers in the economy — what percentage is involved in agriculture, for instance. It also records the type of work people do — for instance, how many are engaged in casual labour, how many work for themselves, and how many have regular salaried jobs. 1. Employed: According to MoSPI, following the usual status approach (with a reference period of 365 days) adopted by NSSO a person in the labour force is considered as working or employed if he/she is engaged relatively for a longer time, during the reference period of last 365 days in any one or more of the work activities. 2. Unemployment Rate (UR): Unemployment refers to the condition where individuals capable of working are actively seeking employment but are unable to secure suitable jobs. An unemployed person, then, is someone who is part of the labor force, possesses the requisite skills, but currently lacks gainful employment. The unemployment in the country is commonly calculated using the formula: Unemployment rate = [Number of Unemployed Workers / Total Labour Force] x 100. Here, the 'total labour force' includes the employed and the unemployed. Those who are neither employed nor unemployed — students, for example— are not considered a part of the labour force. 3. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): Labour force participation rate refers to the part of the population that supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for the production of goods and services and therefore, includes both 'employed' and 'unemployed' persons. Under the CWS approach, labour force refers to the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week before the date of the survey. LFPR is defined as the number of persons/ person-days in the labour force per 1000 persons /person-days. 4. Worker Population Rate (WPR): Under the CWS, the WPR refers to the number of persons who worked for at least one hour on any day during the days preceding the date of the survey. According to MoSPI, it is defined as the number of persons/person-days employed per 1000 persons/person-days. 5. Work Force: According to MoSPI, 'Persons engaged in any gainful activity are considered 'workers' (or employed). They are the persons assigned any one or more of the nine activity categories under the first broad activity category i.e. 'working or employed'.' Consider the following statements about the PLFS: 1. The NSO has published the first monthly PLFS following the Usual Status (US) approach. 2. The MoSPI had launched the first PLFS in April 2017. 3. Under the CWS, the WPR refers to the number of persons who worked for at least one hour on any day during the days preceding the date of survey. Which of the following statements is/are correct? (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 2 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X. 🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for May 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at
Business Standard
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Revamped Periodic Labour Force Survey to offer enhanced coverage of labour market indicators
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has noted some changes in Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) from 2025. As a part of this continuous endeavour aimed at enhancing the surveys of NSS, the sampling design of PLFS has been revamped from January 2025 to address the requirement of high frequency labour market indicators with enhanced coverage from PLFS. The revamped PLFS sample design will enable generation of the monthly estimates of key labour market indicators viz. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) at the all-India level following the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. The monthly estimates will help in timely policy interventions. The first monthly bulletin of PLFS for the month April, 2025 is scheduled to be released in May, 2025. At present PLFS provides quarterly labour market indicators for the urban areas only. With the updation in the PLFS sample design quarterly estimates of employment unemployment indicators will be available for both rural and urban areas and hence for the entire country. The first quarterly bulletin of PLFS covering both rural and urban areas for the quarter April-June, 2025 is slated to be released in August 2025. From the year 2025, the annual PLFS results will be brought out based on the calendar year i.e. survey period of January - December of a specific year (e.g. January 2025 - December 2025). This change in disseminating the PLFS annual results and unit level data will facilitate comprehensive analysis of labour market performance through review of key employment unemployment indicators and also assist in timely updation of India's labour market statistics in the databases maintained by the international agencies. The revamped PLFS sample design is a multistage stratified design. List of census 2011 villages / urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks / sub-units (for those villages or UFS blocks where sub-units are formed within) together formed the sampling frame for selection of the First Stage Units (FSUs). In the revamped PLFS sample design, a total sample size of 22,692 FSUs is planned to be surveyed (12,504 FSUs in the rural areas and 10,188 in the urban areas) in each year of the two-year panel with first visit schedule as compared to 12,800 FSUs surveyed in PLFS upto December, 2024.
The Hindu
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Centre revamps PLFS, includes rural jobs data
The Union Government has decided to revamp the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), started in 2017, to include employment and unemployment data from rural areas too. The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said on Wednesday that the coverage of the PLFS will now be enhanced and the sampling design revamp will address the requirement of high frequency labour market indicators. MoSPI added that the revamped PLFS will estimate key employment and unemployment indicators such as Labour Force Participation Rate, Worker Population Ratio, Unemployment Rate on a monthly basis for rural and urban areas at all-India level in the Current Weekly Status (CWS). These indicators, for urban areas alone, have been released quarterly. Going forward, the PLFS coverage will be extended to rural areas producing quarterly estimates at the country level and for major States in the CWS. 'It will also estimate important employment and unemployment indicators in both usual status (ps+ss) and CWS in rural and urban areas annually,' the Ministry said. Usual Status (ps+ss) and CWS refers to frameworks to determine activity status of person surveyed based on reference periods of one year and last seven days preceding the date of survey, respectively. The revamped PLFS sample design was initiated from from January, 2025 and the first monthly bulletin of PLFS for April, 2025 is scheduled to be released this month. 'The first quarterly bulletin of PLFS covering both rural and urban areas for April-June, 2025 is slated to be released in August, 2025,' the Ministry said. In the revamped PLFS sample, a sample size of 22,692 First Stage Units (FSUs) will be surveyed (12,504 FSUs in rural areas and 10,188 in urban areas) every year of the two-year panel with first visit schedule compared with 12,800 FSUs surveyed in PLFS till December, 2024. '12 households will be surveyed from each of the selected FSUs, which implies an overall sample size of around 2,72,304 households. This marks a 2.65 time increase in sample households to be covered in PLFS compared with the number of sample households covered up to December, 2024 (which was around 1,02,400). The enhanced sample size is expected to provide reliable estimates of labour market indicators with improved precision,' MoSPI said.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Govt revamps employment survey, extends quarterly data to rural India for the first time
Announcing changes to the Periodic Labour Force Survey , the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation ( MoSPI ) will increase its publication of labour force data , including quarterly employment estimates to rural areas for the first time. The first monthly bulletin for April is scheduled for release in May, the ministry said, adding that the quarterly results of the survey will be published for rural, urban, and combined areas. The revamped PLFS sample design from January 2025 will result in the following: Continue to video 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by Availability of monthly estimates of key labour market indicators at the country level: The revamped PLFS sample design will enable generation of the monthly estimates of key labour market indicators viz. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) at the all-India level following the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. The monthly estimates will help in timely policy interventions. The first monthly bulletin of PLFS for the month April, 2025 is scheduled to be released in May, 2025. Extending quarterly estimates to rural areas: Live Events At present PLFS provides quarterly labour market indicators for the urban areas only. With the updation in the PLFS sample design quarterly estimates of employment unemployment indicators will be available for both rural and urban areas and hence for the entire country. The first quarterly bulletin of PLFS covering both rural and urban areas for the quarter April-June, 2025 is slated to be released in August 2025. Moving to the approach of calendar year reporting: From the year 2025, the annual PLFS results will be brought out based on the calendar year i.e. survey period of January – December of a specific year (e.g. January 2025 – December 2025). This change in disseminating the PLFS annual results and unit level data will facilitate comprehensive analysis of labour market performance through review of key employment unemployment indicators and also assist in timely updation of India's labour market statistics in the databases maintained by the international agencies.
New Straits Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Penang's labour market shows strength with unemployment rate dropping to 2.2pct
GEORGE TOWN: Penang's labour market is showing continued strength, driven by sustainable economic growth and promising investment performance, according to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow. In his Labour Day message, Chow said that according to the latest data from the fourth quarter of the 2024 Labour Force Survey (LFS), Penang recorded an unemployment rate of 2.2 per cent. He added that the state also posted a Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 73.2 per cent, indicating that the public is increasingly optimistic about the labour market and is being encouraged to seek employment. "The Penang government remains committed to championing the rights and welfare of workers through inclusive policies, skills training programmes and the creation of more high-value job opportunities. "The development of the digital, green and smart technology sectors will continue to be prioritised to ensure our workers remain relevant and competitive. "I also call on all employers to maintain harmonious and fair relations with their workers. The long-term success of an organisation depends not only on profits but also on the well-being and happiness of its workforce," he said. Chow said Labour Day held a special place in his heart due to Penang's role as a land of opportunity, not only for the people of Penang, but also for many people and families who reside or commute daily from neighbouring states in search of livelihood in this state. Thanks to the collective efforts of all parties, he said, Penang has strengthened its reputation as a key international trade destination, especially in the rapidly growing electronics and semiconductor sectors. "As a result of our shared success, Penang continues to solidify its position as Malaysia's leading hub for investment and technological innovation, with approved manufacturing investments amounting to RM17.3 billion involving 182 projects and nearly 16,254 job opportunities created in 2024," he added. Chow urged all to continue to work hand in hand, strengthen the spirit of unity and fight for a brighter future for all workers in the state of Penang.
