Unemployment rate among persons of 15 years or above slipped to 4.9 per cent in the calendar year 2024 from 5 per cent in the previous year.

This was revealed in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on April 9.

The PLFS was launched by the National Statistics Office in April 2017 with the view of making labour force data available at more frequent time intervals.

Key indicators:

The key employment and unemployment indicators presented in the report are:

• The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): It is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (that is working or seeking or available for work) in the population.

• Worker Population Ratio (WPR): It is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.

• Unemployment Rate (UR): It is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.

The estimates have been presented following the Current Weekly Status (CWS) and Usual Status (ps+ss) approach.

• 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.

• Principal activity status (ps): The activity status on which a person spent relatively long time (major time criterion) during 365 days preceding the date of survey, was considered as the usual principal activity status of the person. 

• Subsidiary economic activity status (ss): The activity status in which a person in addition to his/her usual principal status, performs some economic activity for 30 days or more for the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey, was considered as the subsidiary economic activity status of the person.

• Usual status (ps+ss): It is determined considering both principal activity status (ps) and subsidiary economic activity status (ss) together.

• Activity Status-Current Weekly Status (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last seven days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.

Key points of PLFS:

• In rural areas, there is a marginal decline in overall unemployment (4.3 per cent to 4.2 per cent), with slight reductions for both men and women.

• Urban male unemployment rose (6 per cent to 6.1 per cent), but female unemployment declined (8.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent), keeping the overall urban rate stable at 6.7 per cent.

• Decline in unpaid helpers in household enterprises seems to have contributed to the drop in WPR (workers population ratio) as well as LFPR (labour force participation ratio) among rural females, as the percentage of ‘helpers in Household Enterprises’ decreased from 19.9 per cent to 18.1 per cent from 2023 to 2024.

• Slight improvements were seen across all categories, particularly in the overall WPR (47 per cent to 47.6 per cent) in urban areas, it stated adding that at all-India level, overall WPR remained relatively unchanged (53.4 per cent to 53.5 per cent).

• In urban areas, the LFPR increased for males (74.3 per cent in 2023 to 75.6 per cent in 2024) and slightly for females (25.5 per cent to 25.8 per cent), leading to an overall rise in LFPR (50.3 per cent to 51 per cent).

• Overall LFPR remained constant at 56.2 per cent, despite minor variations across categories.

• Under Principal and Subsidiary Status (PS+SS), the LFPR in India remained largely stable between 2023 and 2024, though there were some variations across rural and urban areas.

• Under the PS+SS approach, if a person has engaged in any economic activity for a period of 30 days or more during the preceding 365 days a person is considered as employed.

• At the national  level, the overall LFPR remained nearly unchanged, with a marginal decline from 59.8 per cent to 59.6 per cent.

• The WPR followed a similar pattern. At the all-India level, WPR recorded a marginal decline, moving from 58 per cent to 57.7 per cent, indicating a slight drop in employment despite stable participation rates.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)