Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017. The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:

• To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate) in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status’ (CWS).
• To estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’ (ps+ss) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

Eighteen Quarterly Bulletins of PLFS corresponding to the quarter ending December 2018 to quarter ending March 2023 have already been released. In these quarterly bulletins estimates of labour force indicators, viz., Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR), distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of workin the Current Weekly Status (CWS) for urban areas have been presented.

The present Quarterly Bulletin is the nineteenth in the series for the quarter April –June2023.

PLFS fieldwork during the quarter April – June 2023

The fieldwork for collection of information in respect of all the first visit as well as revisit samples, allotted for the quarter April-June, 2023 was completed by 30.06.2023, except for 25 first visit and 68 revisit FSUs for the State of Manipur, which were treated as casualties, due to disturbed field situation and unavailability of internet services. In urban areas, Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks are FSUs used in sampling.

Canvassing of revisit schedules is continued to be undertaken mostly in telephonic mode since June 2020. The information was collected over the telephone for about 94.2% of the revisit schedules during the period April-June, 2023.

These aspects may be kept in mind while using the estimates of PLFS for the concerned quarter.

Sample Design of PLFS

A rotational panel sampling design has been used in urban areas. In this rotational panel scheme, each selected household in urban areas is visited four times, in the beginning with ‘First Visit Schedule’ and thrice periodically later with a ‘Revisit Schedule’. The scheme of rotation ensures that 75% of the first-stage sampling units (FSUs)[1] are matched between two consecutive visits.

Sample Size

At the all-India level, in the urban areas, a total number of 5,639 FSUs (UFS blocks) have been surveyed during the quarter April– June2023. The number of urban households surveyed was 44,190 and number of persons surveyed was 1,67,916 in urban areas.

1. Conceptual Framework of Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators for the Quarterly Bulletin: The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators like the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR), etc. These indicators, and ‘Current Weekly Status’ are defined as follows:

1. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.

2. Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed personsin the population.

3. Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployedamong the persons in the labour force.

4. 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 (CWS) of the person.

2. The Quarterly Bulletin for the quarter April – June 2023is available at the website of the Ministry (https://mospi.gov.in). The key results are given in the statements annexed.

 

Annexure

Key Findings of PLFS, Quarterly Bulletin (April –June2023)

 

1. Increasing Trend in Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons of age 15 years and above

LFPR in urban areas increased from 47.5% in April-June 2022 to 48.8% in April-June 2023 for persons of age 15 years in above. While it hovered around 73.5% for male during this period, for female, LFPR increased from 20.9% to 23.2% during this period.

 

2. Increasing Trend in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above

 

WPR in urban areas increased from 43.9% in April-June 2022 to 45.5% in April-June 2023 for persons of age 15 years in above. For male, it increased from 68.3% to 69.2% during this period and for female, it increased from 18.9% to 21.1% during this period.

 

3. Decreasing Trend in Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above

UR in urban areas decreased from 7.6% in April-June 2022 to 6.6% in April-June 2023 for persons of age 15 years and above. For male, it decreased from 7.1% to 5.9% during this period and for female, it decreased from 9.5% to 9.1% during this period.

 

4. Improvement in key labour market indicators in urban areas in April-June 2023 compared to those in pre-pandemic period[2] (quarters considered are April-June 2018 to October – December 2019)

The key labour market indicators viz. LFPR, WPR and UR in the quarter April-June, 2023 for persons of age 15 years and above in urban areas has shown improvement compared to those observed during the pre-pandemic period.

LFPR for persons of age 15 years and above in CWS ranged from 46.2% to 47.8% during the pre-pandemic period. LFPR during April-June 2023 was 48.8% which is higher than the labour force participation rate observed in the quarters covered in the pre-pandemic period.

WPR for persons of age 15 years and above in CWS ranged from 41.8% to 44.1% during the pre-pandemic period. WPR during April-June 2023 was 45.5% which is higher than the worker population ratio observed in the quarters covered in the pre-pandemic period.

Unemployment Rate for persons of age 15 years and above in CWS ranged from 7.8% to 9.7% during the pre-pandemic period. Unemployment Rate during April-June 2023 was 6.6% which is lower than the unemployment rates observed in the quarters covered in the pre-pandemic period.

 

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BY/AKN