News: The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data for May and June 2025 reveals key trends in unemployment and labour force participation in India. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
About Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
- Launched in: It was launched in 2017 by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
- Objectives:
- To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Labour Force Participation Rate, Worker Population Ratio and Unemployment Rate) on a monthly basis for rural and urban areas in the Current Weekly Status (CWS) at all India level
- To extend the coverage of the Quarterly results of PLFS to rural areas and thereby producing quarterly estimates covering both rural and urban parts of India in the Current Weekly Status (CWS)
- To estimate important employment and unemployment indicators in both usual status (ps+ss) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually
- Basically, PLFS collects data in two ways — Usual Status (US) and Current Weekly Status (CWS).
- Within the usual status, the survey respondent has to recall their employment details from the last one year, while in the CWS, the respondent has to recall the details over the past one week.
- Key Terminologies used in PLFS
- 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): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
- Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
- Current Weekly Status (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.
- According to the CWS approach, the estimate of the labour force is derived by considering those who worked for at least 1 hour or was seeking/ available for work for at least 1 hour on any day during the 7 days preceding the date of survey.
- Usual Status: When the activity status is determined on the basis of the reference period of last 365 days preceding the date of survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person.
Key findings of PLFS monthly bulletin, June 2025
- Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in Current Weekly Status (CWS) among persons of age 15 years and above was 54.2 % during June 2025 as compared to 54.8% during May, 2025. LFPR in rural areas was 56.1% and LFPR in urban areas was 50.4% during June, 2025 for persons of the same age group.
- LFPR in CWS for male of age 15 years and above in rural and urban areas were respectively 78.1% and 75.0% during June, 2025 which marked a marginal decline from the corresponding LFPR estimates of 78.3% and 75.1% respectively for rural and urban areas during May, 2025.
- LFPR among female of age 15 years and above for rural areas was 35.2% during June, 2025.
- Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in CWS in rural areas among persons of age 15 years and above was 53.3% during June, 2025. WPR in urban areas among persons of the same age group was 46.8% in June 2025 with the overall WPR at the country level observed as 51.2% during June, 2025 as compared to 51.7% observed during May, 2025.
- WPR for female of age 15 years and above for rural and urban areas were respectively 33.6% and 22.9% in June, 2025 and the overall female WPR of the same age group at the country level was observed as 30.2%.
- Unemployment Rate (UR) in CWS among persons of age 15 years and above has remained same as 5.6% in May, 2025 and June, 2025.
