PLFS reflects positive employment trends

As India strides towards the vision of Viksit Bharat, empowering youth with the right skills and work experience continues to be a priority

- SUMITA DAWRA

IN INDIA, THE Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) captures employment trends across age, gender, education for rural and urban populations on quarterly and annual bases. Its launch in 2017 was a key government reform. Pre-2017, the National Sample Survey Office used to conduct employment and unemployment rounds quinquennially, leading to estimates with significant time lag. The PLFS offers more frequent and granular data, supporting evidence-based policy-making.

Broad employment trends: Based on PLFS data, employment in India broadly shows an improving trend 2017-18 onwards in indicators like labour force participation rate (LFPR), worker population ratio (WPR), and unemployment rate (UR) for people aged 15 years and above. For instance, the LFPR has increased from 49.8% in 2017-18 to 60.1% in 2023-24. Similarly, the WPR has increased from 46.8% in 2017-18 to 58.2% in 2023-24, and unemployment rate has declined from 6.0% to a low of 3.2%.

Rise of female workforce: The most important aspect of employment growth has been the rise of women workforce. Facilitated by government schemes, women have taken up self-employment and entered the workforce in an impressive scale. Data shows female WPR almost doubled from 22% to over 40% and UR dropped from about 6% to around 3% between 2017-18 and 2023-24.

We see an upward trend of educated women in the workforce. Around 40% of those with educational qualifications of post-graduate and above were working in 2023-24, compared to around 35% in 2017-18. About 24% of women with education up to higher secondary were in the workforce in 2023-24, compared to about 11% in 2017-18. Besides, around 50% of the women educated up to primary level were working in 2023-24, compared to about 25% in 2017-18.