A recent report on Business Standard states that the Indian government
may increase the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) frequency to monthly for
urban areas and quarterly for rural areas.
The government is considering increasing the requenty orsures
orobsdaratomonth.Currently, the ministry of statistics and pro-gramme implementation
(Mospi) conducts the periodic labour force survey (PLFS) for urban areas on a
quarterly basis and rural areas on an annual basis. The latest survey
pertaining to urban areas for the March quarter of FY24 was released in May
this year. The annual survey for July 2022-June 2023 was released in October
last year.
"Bringing employment data at frequent intervals has been one of the
priorities of the govern-ment. We are exploring these alternatives to find out
if we can increase the frequency of the existing PLFS surveys to better reflect
the trends in labour markets." the person said.
Developed countries tvoicall release iobs data on a monthly basis, which
is widely tracked by markets and economists to measure resilience of the
economy. Dominance of the informal economy in India has so far made tracking
employment data more frequently a difficult task.
The methodology used by the survey for quarterly releases relies on
current weekly status (with a reference period of seven days). However, the
annual PLFS for rural areas relies on usual status (with a reference period of
365 davs).
According to the latest quarterly estimate, the urban unemployment rate
increased to 6.7 per cent for the March quarter of FY24 compared with 6.5 per
cent in the preceding quarter.
"Efforts are on to harness the technological tools that are
available. The computer-based methodology now used allows the ministry to
record responses immediately on its server and also provides data validation in
real time. Efforts are on to make the data readilv available so that it proves
useful for policymakers. The goal is to move such indicators to monthly
releases," the official added.
India's employment data has been a bone of contention for the government
and economists.
Private agencies like Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) have
become a ready-ref-erence point for unemployment data due to its timeliness and
higher frequency.
Apart from MoSPI, other ministries, including the labour ministry, also
conduct surveys on employment in the form of quarterly employment survey (OES).
Unlike PLFS, which gives a supply-side picture of the labour market, QES
provides a demand-side view. The OES results have been significantly delayed
and the latest survey only pertains to Q2 of FY23.