Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Annual Report: July 2020-June 2021

Among the households surveyed, 54.8 per cent of rural households derived their income from some sort of ‘self-employment’ as compared to 33.2 per cent of urban households. On the other hand, 13 per cent of rural households derived their income from regular salary or wages compared to 42.5 per cent of urban households.

A quarter (24.2 per cent) of rural households depended significantly on casual labour as compared to 12.5 per cent of urban households during 2020-21.

The literacy rate in India for people above the age of seven years is 79.2 per cent in 2020-21 – 75.6 per cent in rural India and 87.8 per cent in urban India. This is a slight increase from the figures noted in 2019-20 – 78.4 per cent (74.3 per cent in rural India and 87.5 per cent in urban India).

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) measures the share of labour force within a population. The LFPR for persons of all ages was 41.6 per cent (as per usual status) and 39.2 per cent (as per current weekly status).

The LFPR in rural areas, as per usual status was 27.7 per cent among females and 57.1 per cent among males. In urban areas, the figures were 18.6 per cent for females and 58.4 per cent for males.

The worker population ratio (WPR) is termed as the “percentage of workers in the population”. The WPR in 2020-21 for persons of all ages (as per usual status) was 39.8 per cent – 54.9 per cent among males and 24.2 per cent among males.

The WPR among those aged 15 years and above was 52.6 per cent – 73.5 per cent among males and 31.4 per cent among females. In this age group, the WPR was found to be higher among people in rural India (55.5 per cent) than in urban India (45.8 per cent).

The PLFS also outlines the percentage of workers across three categories: self-employed, regular wage/salaried employee and casual labour. During the period of July 2020-June 2021, more than half (55.6 per cent) of the people surveyed were self-employed. Around 21.1 per cent earned regular wages or salaries and 23.3 per cent were casual labourers.

A higher percentage of workers in rural India were self-employed (59.7 per cent males and 64.8 per cent females) compared to those earning regular salaries and wages (13.6 per cent males and 9.1 per cent females). In urban areas, more people were salaried (45.3 per cent males and 50.1 per cent females) than self-employed (39.9 per cent males and 38.4 per cent females).

As per current weekly status, the average number of hours a worker worked for in a week (during July 2020 to June 2021) were 41.9-45.2 hours in rural areas and 42.3-50 hours in urban areas.

Among employees who earned regular salaries or wages, 64.3 per cent had no written job contracts. As many as 47.9 per cent of such employees were not eligible for paid leave and 53.8 per cent were ineligible for any social security benefits.

The unemployment rate (UR) is the “percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.” The country-level UR (as per usual status) among persons of all ages was 4.2 per cent. It was 3.3 per cent in rural areas (3.9 per cent among males and 2.1 per cent among females) and 6.7 per cent in urban areas (6.1 per cent among males and 8.6 per cent among females).

The UR (as per usual status) among those aged 15-29 years was higher – 12.9 per cent (13 per cent among males and 12.5 per cent among females). It was also higher in urban areas (18.5 per cent) than in rural areas (10.7 per cent).

Focus and Factoids by Aashna Jain.