PRESS NOTE

ON
PERIODIC LABOUR FORCE SURVEY (PLFS)

Quarterly Bulletin [July – September 2024]

NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE

MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

कार्तिक 27, शक सं वत 1946

18th November, 2024

PRESS NOTE
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) –
Quarterly Bulletin [July – September 2024]

Key findings

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and
above has increased from 49.3% during July – September, 2023 to 50.4% in July – September,
2024.
• LFPR for male of age 15 years and above in urban areas increased from 73.8% during July –
September, 2023 to 75.0% during July – September, 2024 reflecting overall increasing trend
in male LFPR.
• LFPR among female of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased from 24.0% during
July – September, 2023 to 25.5% during July – September, 2024.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and above
has increased from 46.0% during July – September, 2023 to 47.2% in July – September, 2024.
• WPR for male of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased from 69.4% in July –
September, 2023 to 70.7% during July – September, 2024 reflecting overall increasing trend
in male WPR.
• Unemployment Rate (UR) in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and above
decreased from 6.6% during July – September, 2023 to 6.4% during July – September, 2024.
• UR among males of age 15 years and above decreased from 6.0% during July – September,
2023 to 5.7% in July – September, 2024. UR among female of age 15 years and above
decreased from 8.6% in July – September, 2023 to 8.4% in July – September, 2024.

A. Introduction

Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals,
National Statistics Office (NSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:

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 • to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population
Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate) in the short time interval of
three months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status’ (CWS).
• to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’ (ps+ss) and
CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

Twenty-three Quarterly Bulletins of PLFS corresponding to the quarter ending December 2018 to
quarter ending June 2024 have already been released. In these quarterly bulletins estimates of
labour force indicators, viz., Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR),
Unemployment Rate (UR), distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of
work in the Current Weekly Status (CWS) for urban areas have been presented.
The present Quarterly Bulletin is the twenty-fourth in the series for the quarter July – September,
2024.
PLFS fieldwork during the quarter July – September 2024
The fieldwork for collection of information in respect of all the samples allotted for the period July-
September, 2024, were completed timely for the first visit as well as revisit samples, except for 15
first visit FSU1s (4 in Maharashtra, 3 each in Manipur and Madhya Pradesh, 2 in Kerala, 1 each in
Odisha, Assam and Andaman and Nicobar Islands) and 5 revisit FSUs (2 in Maharashtra and 1 each
in Gujarat, Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh) which were treated as casualty.

These aspects may be kept in mind while using the estimates of PLFS for the concerned quarter.

B. Sample Design of PLFS

A rotational panel sampling design has been used in urban areas. In this rotational panel scheme,
each selected household in urban areas is visited four times, in the beginning with ‘First Visit
Schedule’ and thrice periodically later with a ‘Revisit Schedule’. The scheme of rotation ensures that
75% of the first-stage sampling units (FSUs) are matched between two consecutive visits.

C. Sample Size

At the all-India level, in the urban areas, a total number of 5,739 FSUs (urban sampling unit curved
out from Urban Frame Survey) have been surveyed during the quarter July – September 2024. The
number of urban households surveyed was 45,005 and number of persons surveyed was 1,70,598
in urban areas.

1. Conceptual Framework of Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators for the

Quarterly Bulletin: The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives estimates of key employment and
unemployment Indicators like the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio
(WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR), etc. These indicators, and ‘Current Weekly Status’ are defined as
follows:
1
Urban Frame Survey Blocks (UFS) are the smallest area units taken as first-stage sampling units (FSU) in urban areas
for PLFS.

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 (a) 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.

(b) Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in
the population.

(c) Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among
the persons in the labour force.

(d) 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.

2. The Quarterly Bulletin for the quarter July – September 2024 is available at the website of
the Ministry ([Link] The key results are given in the statements annexed.

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 Annexure

Key Findings of PLFS, Quarterly Bulletin (July – September 2024)

1. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons of age 15 years and above

LFPR in urban areas was 50.4% in July – September 2024 for persons of age 15 years in above. While
for male LFPR was 75.0% in July – September 2024, for female, LFPR was 25.5% during this period.

Statement 1: LFPR (in per cent) in CWS in urban areas for

persons of age 15 years and above
all-India
survey period Male Female Person
(1) (2) (3) (4)
July – September 2023 73.8 24.0 49.3
October – December 2023 74.1 25.0 49.9
January – March 2024 74.4 25.6 50.2
April – June 2024 74.7 25.2 50.1
July – September 2024 75.0 25.5 50.4

2. Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above

WPR in urban areas was 47.2% in July – September 2024 for persons of age 15 years in above. For
male, it was 70.7% in July – September 2024, for female, it was 23.4% during this period.

Statement 2: WPR (in per cent) in CWS in urban areas for

persons of age 15 years and above
all-India
survey period Male Female Person
(1) (2) (3) (4)
July – September 2023 69.4 21.9 46.0
October – December 2023 69.8 22.9 46.6
January – March 2024 69.8 23.4 46.9
April – June 2024 70.4 23.0 46.8
July – September 2024 70.7 23.4 47.2

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 3. Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above

Unemployment Rate in urban areas was 6.4% in July - September 2024 for persons of age 15 years
in above. For male, Unemployment Rate was 5.7% in July - September 2024 and for female, UR was
8.4% during the same period.

Statement 3: UR (in per cent) in CWS in urban areas for

persons of age 15 years and above
all-India
survey period Male Female Person
(1) (2) (3) (4)
July – September 2023 6.0 8.6 6.6
October – December 2023 5.8 8.6 6.5
January – March 2024 6.1 8.5 6.7
April – June 2024 5.8 9.0 6.6
July – September 2024 5.7 8.4 6.4

E. Highlights of the Quarterly estimates of key Labour Market indicators

1. Trend in Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons of age 15 years and
above since 2022

The trend in LFPR in urban areas since the quarter January – March, 2022 for male and
female are presented in figure 1 and 2.

Figure 1: LFPR (%) in CWS for urban areas for male of age 15
years and above
75.0
75.0 74.7
74.4
74.1
LFPR (%) in CWS

74.0 73.8
73.4 73.5 73.4 73.5 73.5
73.3

73.0

72.0
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep
22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24
Quarters

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 Figure 2: LFPR (%) in CWS for urban areas for female of age 15
years and above
27.0 25.6 25.5
25.0 25.2
24.0
LFPR (%) in CWS

24.0 23.2
22.3 22.7
21.7
20.9
20.4
21.0

18.0

15.0
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep
22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24
Quarters

2. Trend in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above since
2022

The trend in WPR in urban areas since the quarter January – March, 2022 for male and female
are presented in figure 3 and 4.

Figure 3: WPR (%) in CWS for urban areas for male of age 15
years and above
73.0

70.7
71.0 70.4
WPR (%) in CWS

69.8 69.8
69.2 69.4
69.1
68.6 68.6
69.0 68.3
67.7

67.0

65.0
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep
22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24
Quarters

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 Figure 4: WPR (%) in CWS for urban areas for female of age 15
years and above
26.0
23.4 23.0 23.4
22.9
23.0 21.9
WPR (%) in CWS

21.1
20.2 20.6
19.7
20.0 18.9
18.3

17.0

14.0
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep
22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24
Quarters

3. Trend in Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above since 2022

The trend in UR in urban areas since the quarter January – March, 2022 for male and female
are presented in figure 5 and 6.

Figure 5: UR (%) in CWS for urban areas for male of age 15

years and above
9.0

7.7
UR (%) in CWS

7.1
7.0 6.6 6.5
6.0 6.0 6.1
5.9 5.8 5.8 5.7

5.0
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep
22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24
Quarters

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 Figure 6: UR (%) in CWS for urban areas for female of age 15
years and above
11.0
10.1
9.5 9.4 9.6
9.2 9.1 9.0
UR (%) in CWS

9.0 8.6 8.6 8.5 8.4

7.0

5.0
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep
22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24
Quarters

*****

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