Periodic Labour Force Survey

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is India’s official household survey for measuring employment and unemployment at regular intervals. It is conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. It provides comparable indicators of labour-force participation, employment and unemployment across population groups and regions.

Purpose and key indicators

Introduced in 2017, PLFS replaced the earlier reliance on employment and unemployment surveys conducted at longer intervals. It produces three principal indicators.

• The Labour Force Participation Rate is the percentage of the population that is working, seeking work or available for work.
• The Worker Population Ratio is the percentage of the population that is employed.
• The Unemployment Rate is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed.

Coverage and reference periods

PLFS covers sampled households in rural and urban India and generates estimates by characteristics such as age, sex, education, industry, occupation and employment status. It uses different reference periods to capture both structural and short-term labour-market conditions.

• The usual status approach uses a reference period of 365 days and is suited to assessing relatively long-term employment status.
• The Current Weekly Status approach uses the seven days preceding the survey and captures short-term changes in employment and unemployment.
• Annual reports provide rural and urban estimates using usual status and Current Weekly Status; higher-frequency estimates rely mainly on Current Weekly Status.

Use and interpretation

PLFS supports employment policy, macroeconomic assessment and analysis of differences across rural and urban areas and demographic groups. However, it measures a person’s observed labour-market status rather than directly establishing why a job was gained or lost.

• Changes associated with technology, including artificial intelligence, must therefore be studied by combining PLFS occupation and industry data with other evidence on tasks, firms and technology adoption.
• Estimates can differ between usual status and Current Weekly Status because the two approaches use different reference periods.