Unemployment rate for persons of age 15 years and above in urban areas rose to 9.3 per cent in January-March 2021 from 9.1 per cent in the same month of the previous year, showed a Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

What is Periodic Labour Force Survey?

• Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Statistical Office (NSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

• Nine bulletins of PLFS corresponding to quarters ended December 2018, March 2019, June 2019, September 2019, December 2019, March 2020, June 2020, September 2020 and December 2020 have already been released. The latest bulletin is the tenth in the series.  

• On the basis of PLFS, a quarterly bulletin is brought out giving estimates of labour force indicators namely UR, Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of work in Current Weekly Status (CWS).

• Joblessness or unemployment rate (UR) is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.

• The estimates of unemployed persons in CWS give an average picture of unemployment in a short period of seven days during the survey period.

• In the CWS approach, a person is considered unemployed if he/she did not work even for one hour on any day during the week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour on any day during the period.

• Labour force according to CWS is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week preceding the date of survey. LFPR is defined as the percentage of population in the labour force.

Key points of the survey:

• The unemployment rate for CWS (current weekly status) in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above was 10.3 per cent in October-December 2020, the 10th Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed.

• It also showed that the unemployment rate among females in urban areas (age 15 and above) rose to 11.8 per cent in January-March 2021 from 10.6 per cent a year ago. It was 13.1 per cent in October-December 2020.

• Among males, the UR in urban areas (age 15 years and above) remained flat at 8.6 per cent in  January-March 2021 compared to a year ago. It was  9.5 per cent in October-December 2020.

• Labour force participation rate in CWS (current weekly status) in urban areas for persons of 15 years of age and above  was 47.5 per cent in January-March quarter of 2021, down from 48.1 per cent in the same period a year ago. It was 47.3 per cent in October-December 2020.

• WPR (in per cent) in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above stood at 43.1 per cent in January-March 2021, down from 43.7 per cent in the same period a year ago. It was 42.4 per cent in October-December 2020.

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