Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) – Annual Report [July 2018 – June 2019]

Introduction

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

Objective of PLFS

The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:

1. 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)
2. to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both usual statuses (ps+ss) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

This is the second Annual Report being brought out by NSO on the basis of the Periodic Labour Force Survey conducted during July 2018-June 2019.

Sample Design of PLFS

• The sampling design remains the same as during 2017-18, that is, a rotational panel sampling design 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.
• There was no revisit in the rural samples.
• For rural areas, samples for a stratum/sub-stratum were drawn randomly in the form of two independent sub-samples.
• For rural areas, in each quarter of the survey period, 25% FSUs of annual allocation was covered.
• In view of these changes, the PLFS estimates are not comparable with the results of the Employment Unemployment Survey (EUS) of 2011-12 and earlier years.
• Villages and urban blocks are the smallest area units taken as first-stage sampling units (FSU) in rural and urban areas respectively.

Sampling method

The number of households surveyed was 1,01,579 (55,812 in rural areas and 45,767 in urban areas) and a number of persons surveyed was 4,20,757 (2,39,817 in rural areas and 1,80,940 in urban areas).

Conceptual Framework of Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators: The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators like the Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR), etc.

These indicators are defined as follows:

1. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the 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 persons in the population.
3. Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
4. Activity Status- 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 the survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person.
5. Activity Status- Current Weekly Status (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of the last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.