Key Indicators Of Employment And Unemployment

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the key indicators of Employment and Unemployment in India, from the data collected in its 68th round survey conducted during the period July 2011 – June 2012. The NSS surveys on employment and unemployment are conducted quinquennially starting from 27th round (October 1972 – September 1973) and the last quinquennial survey was conducted in NSS 66th round (July 2009- June 2010) for which, the results have already been released. The NSS 68th round was the ninth quinquennial round on the subject.
The indicators are based on the Central Sample of 1,01,724 households (59,700 in rural areas and 42,024 in urban areas) surveyed from 7,469 villages in rural areas and 5,268 urban blocks spread over all the States and Union Territories except (i) interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of the bus route and (ii) villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remained inaccessible throughout the year.

Lead Indicators

1. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)
2. Worker Population Ratio (WPR)
3. Proportion Unemployed (PU)
4. Unemployment Rate (ER)

In defining the lead indicators of Labour force participation rate (LFPR i.e. ratio of labour force to population), Worker Population Ratio (WPR i.e. ratio of workforce to population), Proportion Unemployed (PU i.e. ratio of unemployed to population) and Unemployment Rate (UR i.e. ratio of unemployed to labour force) in NSS surveys, persons are classified into various activity categories on the basis of the activities pursued by them during certain speci­fied reference periods. Three reference periods used in NSS surveys are (i) one year (ii) one week and (iii) each day of the reference week.  Based on these three periods, three different measures of activity status are arrived at. Activity status determined on the basis of reference period of one year is known as the Usual Status (US) of a person, that determined on the basis of a reference period of one week is known as the Current Weekly Status (CWS) of the person and the activity status determined on the basis of the activities pursued by a person on each day during the reference week is known as the Current Daily Status (CDS) of the person. In US approach, there are two indicators viz. one based on principal activity called Usual Principal Status (ps) and other based on both principal and subsidiary activities taken together termed as Usual Status (ps+ss). The unit of measurements in case of US and CWS is persons and in case of CDS, it is person-days.

These indicators and also the other important statistics relating to distribution of workers according to employment status and industry and also on wage rates of regular wage/salaried employees and casual labourers from the survey are summarized as below:

Labour force participation rate (LFPR) in Usual Status (ps+ss)

• About 40 per cent of population belonged to the labour force – 41 per cent in rural areas and 37 per cent in urban areas
• LFPR for males was nearly 56 per cent and it was 23 per cent for females
• LFPR was about 55 per cent for rural males and about 56 per cent for urban males. It was about 25 per cent for rural females and about 16 per cent for urban females

 Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in usual status (ps+ss)

• WPR was 39 per cent at the all-India level- 40 per cent in rural areas and 36 per cent in urban areas
• WPR for males was nearly 54 per cent and it was 22 per cent for females
• WPR was nearly 54 per cent for rural males and 25 per cent for rural females. It was nearly 55 per cent for urban males and 15 per cent urban female

Unemployment rate (UR) in usual status (adjusted)

• UR in the usual status (ps+ss) termed as UR in usual status (adjusted) was nearly 2 per cent at the all-India level. It was about 2 per cent in rural areas and about 3 per cent in urban
• In the rural areas, UR for both males and females were almost at the same level (nearly 2 per cent) while in 

  Growth in employment between 66th  round and 68th  round

  According to the  usual status (ps+ss), the workforce at the all-India level, was about 459.0 millions (rural male: 231.9, rural female:104.5, urban male: 99.8 and urban female: 22.8) as on 1st January 2010 (NSS 66th round) which increased to 472.9 millions (rural male: 234.6, rural female:101.8, urban male:109.2 and urban female: 27.3) as on 1st January 2012 (NSS 68th round), indicating a growth of about 13.9 millions of the workforce at the all-India level between 66th round and 68th round.

  Distribution of usual status (ps+ss) workers  by employment status

  • In the total workforce of usual status (ps+ss) at the all-India level, the shares of self-employed, regular wage/salaried employees and casual labour were 52 per cent, 18 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively
  • In the rural areas, the shares of self-employed, regular wage/salaried employees and casual labour were 56 per cent, 9 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively
  • In the urban areas, the shares of self-employed and regular wage/salaried employees were 42 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively and the rest (15 per cent) were casual labours
  • The shares of self-employment in total workforce were 55 per cent for rural males, 59 per cent for rural females, 42 per cent for urban males, 43 per cent for urban females. The corresponding shares of casual labour were 36 per cent, 35 per cent, 15 per cent and 14 per cent for rural males, rural females, urban males and urban females, respectively urban areas, UR for females was about 5 per cent as compared to 3 per cent for males.
  •    Industry-wise distribution of usual status (ps+ss) workers
    • Among the workers in the usual status (ps+ss), about 49 per cent, 24 per cent and 27 per cent were engaged in agricultural sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector, respectively
    • In rural areas, nearly 59 per cent of the usual status (ps+ss) male workers and nearly 75 per cent of the female workers were engaged in the agricultural sector. Among the male workers, 22 per cent and 19 per cent were engaged in secondary and tertiary sectors, respectively. The corresponding proportions for female workers were 17 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively
    • In urban areas, nearly 59 per cent of male workers and 55 per cent of the female workers were engaged in the tertiary sector. The secondary sector employed nearly 35 per cent of the male and 34 per cent of the female workers. The share of urban workforce in agricultural sector was nearly 6 per cent for male workers and 11 per cent for female workers

    Wage Rates of Regular Wage/Salaried Employees and Casual Labourers (age 15-59 years)

    • At the all-India level, average wages received by regular wage/salaried employees was Rs. 396 per day. This was Rs. 299 in the rural areas and Rs. 450 in the urban areas
    • In the rural areas, wages received per day by a regular wage/salaried employee was was Rs. 322 for males and Rs. 202 for females, indicating the female-male wage ratio as 0.63. In the urban areas, this was Rs. 470 for males and Rs. 366 for females, indicating the female-male wage ratio as 0.78
    • Daily wages received by casual labours engaged in works other than public works was Rs. 139 in rural areas and Rs. 170 in urban areas. In the rural areas, wage received (per day) was Rs. 149 for males and Rs. 103 for females. In the urban areas, the corresponding rates were Rs. 182 and Rs. 111 for males and females, respectively.
    • Daily wages received by casual labours of rural areas engaged in public works other than MGNREG public works was Rs. 121. This was Rs. 127 for males and Rs. 111 for females. Daily wages received by casual labours of rural areas engaged in MGNREG public works was Rs. 107. This was Rs. 112 for males and Rs. 102 for females