The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) on June 4, 2020.
According to the latest PLFS, India’s unemployment rate improved from the 45-year high of 6.1% in 2017-18 to 5.8% in 2018-19.
Women’s unemployment fell from 5.7% to 5.2%, while male unemployment only fell from 6.2% to 6%.
Urban unemployment was still at a high of 7.7% in 2018-19, a marginal drop from 7.8% in 2017-18, while rural unemployment fell from 5.3% to 5%.
The labour force participation rate improved marginally, from 36.9% in 2017-18 to 37.5% in 2018-19.
The labour force is defined as people who are working, or seeking work or available for work.
About PLFS
National Statistical Office (NSO) had launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.
The objective of PLFS is 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) and to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both usual status (ps+ss) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.
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.
Worker Population Ratio (WPR): Percentage of employed persons in the population.
Unemployment Rate (UR): Percentage of persons unemployedamong the persons in the labour force.
