Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
Periodic Labour Force Survey  – Quarterly Bulletin [October-December 2021]
A. Introduction
Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Statistical Office  launched Periodic Labour Force Survey  in April 2017.
The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:
- to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators  in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status’ .
- to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’  and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.
On the basis of the data collected in PLFS, three Annual Reports of PLFS corresponding to the periods July 2017 - June 2018, July 2018 - June 2019 and July 2019 - June 2020 covering both rural and urban areas giving estimates of all important parameters of employment and unemployment in both usual status  and current weekly status  have been released.
Besides these Annual Reports, twelve Quarterly Bulletins of PLFS corresponding to the quarter ending December 2018 to quarter ending September 2021 have already been released. In these quarterly bulletins estimates of labour force indicators, viz., Worker population ratio , Labour Force Participation Rate , Unemployment Rate , distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of work in the Current Weekly Status  for urban areas have been presented.
The present Quarterly Bulletin in the thirteenth in the series for the quarter October - December 2021.
PLFS fieldwork during COVID-19 pandemic
Due to the 2nd wave of Covid-19, the field work of PLFS was suspended from 19.04.2021 in most parts of the country. The field work was gradually resumed in the first week of June 2021 with due adherence to the Covid related restrictions. Collection of information in respect of the allotted samples for the quarter October-December 2021 was completed by 31.01.2022  and by 31.12.2021 . First visit samples were canvassed physically with retrospective referencing in case of delayed samples; whereas the revisit samples were canvassed telephonically hence were completed as per scheduled timelines.
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 [1] are matched between two consecutive visits.
C. Sample Size
At the all-India level, in the urban areas, a total number of 5,691 FSUs  have been surveyed during the quarter October – December 2021. The number of urban households surveyed was 44,553 and number of persons surveyed was 1,72,944 in urban areas.
- Conceptual Framework of Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators for the Quarterly Bulletin: The Periodic Labour Force Survey  gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators like the Labour Force Participation Rate , Worker Population Ratio , Unemployment Rate , etc. These indicators, and ‘Current Weekly Status’ are defined as follows:
- Labour Force Participation Rate : LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force  in the population.
- Worker Population Ratio : WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
- Unemployment Rate : UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
- Current Weekly Status : 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  of the person.
- The Quarterly Bulletin for the quarter October – December 2021 is available at the website of the Ministry . The key results are given in the statements annexed.
Annexure
Key Findings of PLFS, Quarterly Bulletin 
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Statement 1: LFPR  in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above
all‑India
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NSS survey period
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Male
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Female
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Person
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|

|
|

|
|

|
|

|
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October – December 2020
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|
73.6
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|
20.6
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|
47.3
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January – March 2021
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73.5
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|
21.2
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|
47.5
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|
April – June 2021
|
|
73.1
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|
20.1
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|
46.8
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|
July – September 2021
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|
73.5
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|
19.9
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|
46.9
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|
October – December 2021
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|
73.9
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20.2
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47.3
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Statement 2: WPR  in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above
all‑India
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NSS survey period
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|
Male
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Female
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Person
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|

|
|

|
|

|
|

|
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October – December 2020
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66.7
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|
17.9
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|
42.4
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January – March 2021
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67.2
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|
18.7
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|
43.1
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|
April – June 2021
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64.2
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|
17.2
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|
40.9
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|
July – September 2021
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|
66.6
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|
17.6
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42.3
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|
October – December 2021
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67.8
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18.1
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43.2
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Statement 3: UR  in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above
all‑India
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NSS survey period
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Male
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Female
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|
Person
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|

|
|

|
|

|
|

|
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October – December 2020
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|
9.5
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|
13.1
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|
10.3
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January – March 2021
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8.6
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11.8
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9.3
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April – June 2021
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12.2
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14.3
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12.6
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July – September 2021
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9.3
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11.6
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9.8
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October – December 2021
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8.3
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10.5
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8.7