Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

• Context (TH | PIB): The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the period between July 2023 and June 2024, released by the Labour Bureau.

PLFS: Origin and Objective

• The PLFS was initiated by the National Statistical Office in 2017 for frequent labour force data.
• The inaugural annual report was published in 2019, utilising data from July 2017 to June 2018.
• PLFS’s objective is to estimate vital employment and unemployment indicators like the Labour Force Participation Rate every three months in urban areas.
• It also aims to provide yearly estimates for both rural and urban regions.
• It follows a current weekly status approach, where people are considered unemployed if they did not work for at least one hour during the week but actively sought work.

Key Indicators of PLFS

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): the percentage of persons in the labour force (working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR): defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
• Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
• According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), unemployment involves being jobless when actively seeking employment. Thus, unemployment is not synonymous with joblessness.

Activity Status

• Usual Status: Usual activity status is determined based on the reference period of the last 365 days preceding the survey date.
• Current Weekly Status (CWS): According to CWS, the labour force is the number of persons either employed or unemployed on average in the week preceding the survey date.
• Usual status unemployment rates will always be lower than CWS rates (because there is a greater probability that an individual would find work over a year compared to a week).

Findings of Annual Report

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)

• Rural areas: Increased from 50.7% in 2017-18 to 63.7% in 2023-24.
• Urban areas: Increased from 47.6% to 52.0%.
• Males: Increased from 75.8% in 2017-18 to 78.8% in 2023-24.
• Female: Increased from 23.3% to 41.7%.
  • For Muslim women: Increased from 15% in 2021-22 to 21.4% in 2023-24.
  • For Hindu women: Increased from 26.1% in 2021-22 to 33.3%.

Worker Population Ratio (WPR)

• Rural areas: Increased from 48.1% in 2017-18 to 62.1% in 2023-24.
• Urban areas: Increased from 43.9% to 49.4%.
• Male: Increased from 71.2% in 2017-18 to 76.3% in 2023-24.
• Female: Increased from 22.0% to 40.3%.

Unemployment Rate

• No improvement in the unemployment scenario, neither in youth unemployment nor in overall unemployment. The overall unemployment rate is 3.2%, similar to last year.
• Unpaid family labour has increased. Workers’ participation in agriculture has risen for fourth time.