Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Quarterly Bulletin: July-September 2024

The ‘labour force’ is the share of the population “which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities” and thus includes both employed and unemployed people. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) calculates the share of labour force within a population. The country-level LFPR in July-September 2024 (as per the current weekly status) for all ages was 39.6 per cent – 58.2 per cent among men and 20.3 per cent among women.

The same quarter saw Bihar recording the lowest LFPR of 28.8 – 47 per cent among men and 9.2 per cent among women. On the other hand, Himachal Pradesh recorded the highest with 50 per cent – 63.8 per cent among men and 33.2 per cent among women.

The worker population ratio (WPR) is defined as the “percentage of workers in the population”. The countrywide WPR in the third quarter of 2024 among people aged 15 years and above was 47.2 per cent – 70.7 per cent among men and 23.4 per cent among women.

The WPR (for those aged 15 years and above) among women was lowest in Bihar at 11.9 per cent and highest in Himachal Pradesh at 34.1 per cent. Among men, it was lowest in Bihar at 61.3 per cent and highest in Punjab at 75.9 per cent.

The PLFS outlines the percentage of workers across the three categories: self-employed, regular wage/salaried employee and casual labour. In the third quarter of 2024, the majority of workers surveyed (49.4 per cent) were salaried employees or earned regular wages. Around 39.9 per cent were self-employed and 10.7 per cent were engaged in casual labour. Casual labour is defined as labour which is of “casual or seasonal or intermittent nature.”

Of the people surveyed (aged 15 years and above) 47.9 per cent men were salaried employees compared to 53.8 per cent women. Those self employed numbered 39.8 per cent among men and 40.3 per cent among women. And around 12.3 per cent of men and 5.8 per cent of women were engaged in casual labour.

The survey also gives data about the distribution of workers across agricultural, secondary (mining and quarrying among others) and tertiary sectors. In this quarter, 5.4 per cent of people in urban areas (4.2 per cent men and 9.1 per cent women) were engaged in the agriculture sector. Around 32.3 per cent people (34.2 per cent men and 26.7 per cent women) worked in the secondary sector whereas the majority (62.3 per cent) were engaged in the tertiary sector.

Delhi recorded the lowest share of workers (aged 15 years and above) in the agricultural sector with 0.09 per cent while Kerala recorded the highest with 11.06 per cent. In the secondary sector, Gujarat recorded the highest share of workers and Assam the lowest at 42.64 per cent and 23.43 per cent respectively. Furthermore, Assam recorded the highest number of workers in the tertiary sector at 70.48 per cent and Himachal Pradesh recorded the lowest at 52.92 per cent.

Following the current weekly status approach, a person is considered unemployed if they have not worked even for an hour during the reference week but looked for work or were available for employment. The unemployment rate (UR) is the “percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.” The UR among workers of all ages in the July-September 2024 quarter was 6.4 per cent – 5.7 per cent among men and 8.4 per cent among women.

The unemployment rate was much higher at 15.9 per cent among people aged 15-29 years. It was 14.2 per cent among men and 21 per cent among women.

Of the states and union territories for which the survey provides data, Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest unemployment rate at 32 per cent during July-September 2024 among workers aged 15-29 years. It was followed by Odisha with a UR of 30.4 per cent. Delhi, on the other hand, recorded the lowest at 4.3 per cent.

Focus and Factoids by Bhuvi Kalra.