In accordance with the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for [July 2018 – June 2019] of National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), India’s unemployment rate fell between July 2018 and June 2019 to 5.8% from 6.1% during the same period of 2017-18 while the Indian economy grew 6.1% in 2018-19, slower than the 7% expansion recorded the year before.
- For 2018-19 the survey has covered 1,01,579 households (55,812 in rural areas and 45,767 in urban areas) and 4,20,757 people (rural – 2,39,817, urban – 1,80,940).
- This is the second Annual Report being brought out by NSO on the basis of PLFS.
Key Points:
-The labour force participation rate rose to 37.5% from 36.9%.
-The worker population ratio also increased, to 35.3% as against 34.7% in the 2017-18,
-The urban unemployment rate reduced to 7.7% in 2018-19 from 7.8% and in rural India to 5% from 5.3%.
-The female participation rate improved in both urban and rural India, going up to 18.6% in 2018-19 from 17.5% the year before.
-For the quarter ended June 30, 2019, the unemployment rate slowed to 8.9% from 9.3% in January-March 2019 and 9.9% in October-December 2018.
COVID-19 effects:
Though unemployment rate has decreased as per annual PLFS report in 2018-19, but, according to the monthly data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate in India rose significantly from 7.87% in June 2019 to 23.48% in May 2020.
About PFLS
PLFS is India’s first computer-based survey which gives estimates of key employment and unemployment indicators like the labour force participation rate, worker population ratio, proportion unemployed and unemployment rate in rural households annually and on a quarterly basis for the urban households.
- The Labour Force Participation Rate is the percentage of people in the labour force (those who are working or seeking or available for work) in the population while the Worker Population Ratio is the percentage of employed people.
- The unemployment rate shows the percentage of people unemployed among the labour force.
- The survey was launched in 2017 and the ministry released the first annual report (July 2017-June 2018), covering both rural and urban areas, in May 2019.
About MoSPI:
Minister of State (Independent Charge)– Rao Inderjit Singh
Secretary– Pravin Srivastava
Click Here for Official Report
