Syllabus
Inclusive Growth,Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment(GS 3)
Source
The Hindu,13/10/2023
Application:where to place?
When asked about
Status of unemployment rate in India
Unemployment Rate–male vs female, Rural vs Urban
LFPR comparison
Context
NSO released Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) recently
Content
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
- PLFS is India’s first computer-based survey on labour force data and was launched by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
- The objective of PLFS is primarily two fold:
- (1)To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (eg: 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).
- (2)To estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’ (ps+ss) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually
Labour Force
- Labour force, or the ‘economically active’ population includes both ‘employed’ and ‘unemployed’ persons.
- Estimates of the labour force have been obtained based on the following approaches: (i) usual status (ps+ss) approach (ii) current weekly status approach
- 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.
- Usual Status (ps+ss):The labour force according to the usual status (ps+ss) is obtained by considering the usual principal status and the subsidiary status together.
- The estimate of the labour force in the usual status (ps+ss) includes the persons who either worked or were seeking/available for work for a relatively long part of the 365 days preceding the date of survey.
- It also includes those persons from among the remaining population who had worked at least for 30 days during the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey.
Highlights of the Report
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)
- LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force(those working, seeking work, or available for work)in the population.
- The survey showed a significant increase in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR,usual status) for individuals aged 15 and above, rising to 57.9 percent from 49.8 percent in 2017-18.
- For rural areas, LFPR increased from 50.7 percent in 2017-18 to 60.8 percent in 2022-23.
- In urban areas, it increased from 47.6 percent to 50.4 percent.
- The LFPR for males in India increased from 75.8 percent in 2017-18 to 78.5 percent in 2022-23, with a corresponding increase for females from 23.3 percent to 37 percent.
Worker Population Ratio (WPR)
- WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
- The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in usual status for persons aged 15 and above also increased to 56 percent in 2022-23 from 46.8 percent in 2017-18.
- For rural areas, WPR increased from 48.1 per cent in 2017-18 to 59.4 percent in 2022-23.
- For urban areas, it increased from 43.9 percent to 47.7 percent.
- The WPR for males in India increased from 71.2 per cent in 2017-18 to 76.0 percent in 2022-23, and the corresponding increase in WPR for females was from 22.0 percent to 35.9 percent.
Unemployment Rate
- Unemployment rate (UR) is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.
- India’s unemployment rate for individuals aged 15 and above reached a six-year low of 3.2 percent during the period from July 2022 to June 2023 from 4.1 percent in 2021-22.
- The UR was 4.2 percent in 2020-21, 4.8 per cent in 2019-20, 5.8 percent in 2018-19, and 6 percent in 2017-18, according to the PLFS data.
- The data revealed a notable decline in unemployment rates in both rural and urban areas.
- In rural regions, UR decreased from 5.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 2.4 percent in 2022-23, while in urban areas, it decreased from 7.7 percent to 5.4 percent.
- The UR for males in India decreased from 6.1 percent in 2017-18 to 3.3 percent in 2022-23, with a corresponding decrease for females from 5.6 percent to 2.9 percent.
Employment status among different social groups
- The labour force participation rate (LFPR) is highest among the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population for both males and females.
- Additionally, the LFPR for men across all groups tends to fall within the 50s range.
Employment status among religious groups
- In terms of male labour force participation rate, individuals who identify as Sikh have the highest rate, while those who identify as Muslim have the lowest.
- When it comes to female labour force participation, Christian women have the highest rate, whereas Muslim women have the lowest.
Reference
- India’s unemployment rate hits six-year low, rural areas witness significant improvements: Report(wion news,12/10/2023)
- PLFS 2022-23 Report
Practice Question
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2022-2023 reported a significant decrease in India’s unemployment rate. Discuss the key findings of the report and analyze their implications for India’s economy.