Periodic Labour Force Survey (2017-2018)

Why in News?

The employment survey, called the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2017-2018) that had been released recently, has causes for concern.

What is Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)?

• PLFS is an initiative aimed at generating estimates of various labour force indicators.
• The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation conducts the survey.
• Quarterly survey (For urban areas only) – Captures only the current weekly status (CWS) data.
• Annual survey (For both rural and urban areas) – Measures both the usual status and CWS.

What are the dimensions used?

• NSSO’s definition of ‘employment’ includes in itself ‘self-employment’ as well as ‘wage employment’.
• Within the category of ‘self-employed’, the survey also counts those engaged in ‘unpaid family labour’.
• Both the locational and gender dimensions are considered.

What does the survey point out?

• As per the survey, the biggest issues are,
  1. Shrinking share of the labour force
  2. Rising unemployment
• The rise in overall unemployment has both locational and gender dimensions, with the highest rise witnessed among the urban women.
• When the location dimension is ignored, there is a severe unemployment among men that was higher than among women.
• However, given the sharp decline in women’s labour force participation rate (LFPR), they have been losing out heavily due to,
  1. Exclusion of women from the labour force and
  2. Inability to access employment when included in the labour force.

What is the educated unemployment rate?

• Defined as unemployment among those with at least a secondary school certificate, it is at 11.4% (Previous survey’s figure is at 4.9%).
• This issue of educated unemployment, linked with growth and transformative development, has never been as acute as at present.
• The unemployment rates go up as levels of education go up.
• Educated persons have aspirations for specific jobs and hence likely to go through a longer waiting period than their less-educated counterparts.

Who bears the highest burden?

• The burden is the highest among urban women at 19.8% followed by rural women, rural men and urban men.
• Educated unemployment rate - Higher for educated women, when compared to educated men, in both 2012 and 2018 periods (despite a low labour force participation rate).

What is the youth unemployment rate?

• Youth unemployment rate (unemployment among those in the 15-29 years age category) has reached a high 17.8%.
• Women stand more disadvantaged than the men even here, especially urban women, whose unemployment rate of 27.2% is more than double the 2012 figure.
• The rate for urban men at 18.7%, is particularly high as well.

What is the conclusion?

• The trend of ‘jobless growth’ that was till recently confined largely to the organised sector has now spread to other sectors of the economy, making it more generalised.
• This calls for a thorough re-examination of the missing linkages between growth and employment.
• The decline in women’s labour force participation means that India is among the countries with the lowest participation of women in the labour force.
• The country’s inability to absorb the educated into gainful employment is an economic loss and a demoralising experience for both the unemployed and those who are enrolling for higher education.

Source: The Hindu