Unemployment rate drops for fourth straight quarter, lowest in 4 yrs: PLFS

This is the lowest unemployment rate recorded in the last 4 years, from the time NSO launched India's first computer-based survey in April 2017

The unemployment rate in urban areas fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) results for April-June 2022, released on Wednesday. The unemployment rate in current weekly status terms for all ages in the June quarter has been estimated at 7.6 per cent. This is the lowest in the last four years.

The current weekly status for all ages among men and women has been estimated at 7.1 and 9.5 per cent, respectively. The rate has been showing a continuous decline since the June 2021 quarter, when it was estimated at 12.6 per cent.

Earlier this month, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in its report estimated the country’s unemployment rate in July at 6.80 per cent from 7.8 per cent in June 2022.

Marginal increase in LFPR and WPR

The June quarter also saw a marginal increase in the labour force participation rate (LFPR) to 47.5 per cent from 47.3 per cent in the March 2022 quarter. The female LFPR registered a marginal increase of 0.5 percentage points from 20.4 per cent in January-The male LFPR increased slightly from 73.4 per cent in March 2022 to 73.5 per cent in the June quarter.

The worker to population ratio (WPR) also saw a marginal increase of 0.5 percentage points from 43.4 per cent in the March quarter. The female WPR stood at 18.9 per cent as against the 68.3 per cent for males.

Quarterly PLFS

Prior to the PLFS, the National Sample Survey Organisation (now known as NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Implementation used to bring the data related to employment and unemployment based on its quinquennial (every five years) household socio-economic survey programme.

It was in April 2017 that India’s first computer-based survey was launched to measure the dynamics in labour force participation and employment status in the short interval of three months for urban areas only in terms of current weekly status (CWS).