Lok Sabha Question No. 4384 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-20
Subject: Sampling Methodology of PLFS
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: Shri Nalin Soren, Shri Arun Govil, Shri Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Shri Kanwar Singh Tanwar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4384 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.08.2025

## SAMPLING METHODOLOGY OF PLFS

4384.

SHRI CHHATRAPAL SINGH GANGWAR:

SHRI ARUN GOVIL:

SHRI KANWAR SINGH TANWAR:

SHRI NALIN SOREN:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  changes  made  in  the  sampling  methodology  of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) from January, 2025;
- (b) the  summary  of  key  labour  force  indicators  like  Labour  Force Participation  Rate  (LFPR),  Worker  Population  Ratio  (WPR)  and Unemployment Rate (UR) for April, 2025;
- (c) the key difference in labour force participation and gender-wise trends in rural and urban areas particularly in Dumka, Jharkhand;
- (d) whether the restructured PLFS is being used for targeted policy making; and
- (e) if  so,  the  manner  in  which  it  is  being  used  and  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS  AND  PROGRAMME  IMPLEMENTATION;  MINISTER  OF STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  PLANNING AND  MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  CULTURE  [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

(a) to (e): The  sampling  design  of  Periodic  Labour  Force  Survey (PLFS) has  been revamped  from  January  2025  to address the requirement of high frequency labour market indicators with enhanced coverage from PLFS. The revamped PLFS is envisaged to address the

## following objectives:

-  to  estimate  the  key  employment  and  unemployment  indicators (viz.  Labour  Force  Participation  Rate,  Worker  Population  Ratio, Unemployment  Rate)  on  a  monthly  basis  for  rural  and  urban areas at all-India level in the Current Weekly Status (CWS)
-  to extend the coverage of the Quarterly results of PLFS to rural areas and thereby producing quarterly estimates at the country level and for major States in the Current Weekly Status (CWS)
-  to estimate important employment and unemployment indicators in  both  usual  status  (ps+ss)  and  CWS  in  both  rural  and  urban areas annually.

Usual Status (ps+ss) and Current Weekly Status (CWS) refers to frameworks for determining activity status of person surveyed based on reference periods of last 365 days and last seven days preceding the date of survey, respectively.

Salient aspects of the change in the sampling methodology of PLFS are given below:

##  Enhancement of the sample size

The  revamped  PLFS  sample  design  is  a  multistage  stratified design. List of census 2011 villages / urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks /  sub-units  (for  those  villages  or  UFS  blocks  where  sub-units  are formed within) together formed the sampling frame for selection of the First Stage Units (FSUs). In the revamped PLFS sample design, a total sample size of 22,692 FSUs is planned to be surveyed (12,504 FSUs in year  panel  with  first  visit  schedule  as  compared  to  12,800  FSUs the rural areas and 10,188 in the urban areas) in each year of the twosurveyed in PLFS upto December, 2024.

A  total  of  12  households  will  be  surveyed  from  each  of  the selected FSUs which implies an overall sample size of around (22,692 x  12)  =  2,72,304  households.  This  marks  a  2.65  time  increase  in sample households to be covered in PLFS as compared to the number of  sample  households  covered  upto  December,  2024  (which  was around  1,02,400).  The  enhanced  sample  size  is  expected  to  provide reliable estimates of labour market indicators with improved precision.

-  Changes in the Rotation panel scheme

In  the  rotational  panel  scheme  adopted  in  the  revamped  PLFS sample design employed from January 2025, each selected household is visited four times in four consecutive months -in the beginning with first visit schedule in the first month and other three with the revisit schedule in the following three months for both rural and urban areas. This rotational panel scheme ensures a 75% matching of the samples surveyed between two consecutive months for both rural and urban areas and 50% matching in successive quarters.

-  Changes in the First (or Primary) Stage sampling units (FSUs) of the multistage design

With a view to ensure uniformity in the size of First Stage Units and for operational convenience, large census 2011 villages and UFS blocks are notionally divided into smaller units of more or less equal size, known as sub-units depending on a pre-defined criteria based on population in the village or number of households in the UFS block. In the revamped PLFS design employed from January 2025, the list of census 2011 villages / sub-units (for those census 2011 villages where sub-units are formed within) together formed the sampling frame for selection of the First Stage Units for rural areas.

Likewise,  the  list  of  latest  available  UFS  blocks  /  subunits  (for those UFS blocks where sub-units are formed within) together formed the  sampling  frame  for  selection  of  the  First  Stage  Units  for  urban areas.

-  Modification  in  the  Stratification  of  First  (or  Primary)  Stage sampling units

In the revamped PLFS sample design, district has been made the primary  geographical  unit,  called  basic  stratum  within  a  state/UT separately for rural and urban sectors for selecting FSUs for most part of the geography covered. In the remaining parts NSS region has been made the basic stratum.

-  Changes in selection scheme for selecting FSUs

In  the  revamped  PLFS  sample  design,  FSUs  from  each  of  the stratum  /  sub-strata  is  selected  for  each  month  following  Simple Random Sampling (SRS) scheme.

The revamped PLFS sample design from January 2025 results in the following updation in the PLFS dissemination:

##  Availability of monthly estimates of key labour market indicators at the country level:

The revamped PLFS sample design will enable generation of the monthly estimates of key labour market indicators viz. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) at  the  all-India  level  following  the  Current Weekly  Status  (CWS)  approach.  The  monthly  estimates  will  help  in timely policy interventions.

-  Extending quarterly estimates to rural areas:

Upto  December,  2024  PLFS  provided  quarterly  labour  market indicators  for  the  urban  areas  only.  With  the  updation  in  the  PLFS sample  design  quarterly  estimates  of  employment  unemployment indicators will be available for both rural and urban areas and hence for the entire country.

The  estimates  of  key  labour  force  indicators  like  Labour  Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment  Rate  (UR)  based  on  the  Monthly  Bulletin  of  PLFS conducted during the month of April 2025 according to Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age at all India level are given in Table at Annexure I.

The  State-wise  estimates  of  LFPR,  including  Jharkhand,  in  usual status (ps+ss) separately for male, female and person of rural, urban and rural+urban areas from Annual Report of PLFS conducted during July  2023-June  2024  are  given  in  the  table  at  Annexure  II.  The estimates  in  Annual  Report  of  PLFS  2023-24  have  been  released  at Central and  State/UT level  only  and  estimates  of  Dumka,  Jharkhand are not separately available.

*****

## Annexure I

| Table (1): Labour Force Indicators (in per cent) according to Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age during April 2025 from PLFS all-India   | Table (1): Labour Force Indicators (in per cent) according to Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age during April 2025 from PLFS all-India   | Table (1): Labour Force Indicators (in per cent) according to Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age during April 2025 from PLFS all-India   | Table (1): Labour Force Indicators (in per cent) according to Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age during April 2025 from PLFS all-India   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| LFPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                               | LFPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                               | LFPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                               | LFPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                               |
| sector                                                                                                                                                   | male                                                                                                                                                     | female                                                                                                                                                   | person                                                                                                                                                   |
| rural                                                                                                                                                    | 57.5                                                                                                                                                     | 28.8                                                                                                                                                     | 42.9                                                                                                                                                     |
| urban                                                                                                                                                    | 58.5                                                                                                                                                     | 20.5                                                                                                                                                     | 39.9                                                                                                                                                     |
| rural + urban                                                                                                                                            | 57.8                                                                                                                                                     | 26.2                                                                                                                                                     | 42.0                                                                                                                                                     |
| WPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                | WPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                | WPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                | WPR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                |
| sector                                                                                                                                                   | male                                                                                                                                                     | female                                                                                                                                                   | person                                                                                                                                                   |
| rural                                                                                                                                                    | 54.7                                                                                                                                                     | 27.7                                                                                                                                                     | 41.0                                                                                                                                                     |
| urban                                                                                                                                                    | 55.1                                                                                                                                                     | 18.7                                                                                                                                                     | 37.3                                                                                                                                                     |
| rural + urban                                                                                                                                            | 54.8                                                                                                                                                     | 24.9                                                                                                                                                     | 39.8                                                                                                                                                     |
| UR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                 | UR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                 | UR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                 | UR in Current Weekly Status (CWS) for persons of all age                                                                                                 |
| sector                                                                                                                                                   | male                                                                                                                                                     | female                                                                                                                                                   | person                                                                                                                                                   |
| rural                                                                                                                                                    | 4.9                                                                                                                                                      | 3.8                                                                                                                                                      | 4.5                                                                                                                                                      |
| urban                                                                                                                                                    | 5.8                                                                                                                                                      | 8.7                                                                                                                                                      | 6.5                                                                                                                                                      |
| rural + urban                                                                                                                                            | 5.2                                                                                                                                                      | 5.0                                                                                                                                                      | 5.1                                                                                                                                                      |
| Source: Periodic Labour Force Survey, Monthly Bulletin, April 2025                                                                                       | Source: Periodic Labour Force Survey, Monthly Bulletin, April 2025                                                                                       | Source: Periodic Labour Force Survey, Monthly Bulletin, April 2025                                                                                       | Source: Periodic Labour Force Survey, Monthly Bulletin, April 2025                                                                                       |

## Annexure II

| from PLFS 2023-24 State/UT         | rural   | rural   | rural   | urban   | urban   | urban   | rural   | rural   | rural   |
|------------------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
| from PLFS 2023-24 State/UT         | male    | female  | person  | male    | female  | person  | male    | female  | person  |
| (1)                                | (2)     | (3)     | (4)     | (5)     | (6)     | (7)     | (8)     | (9)     | (10)    |
| Andhra Pradesh                     | 59.7    | 40.7    | 50.1    | 59.3    | 24.5    | 41.3    | 59.5    | 35.8    | 47.5    |
| Arunachal Pradesh                  | 59.3    | 53.1    | 56.3    | 56.0    | 34.5    | 45.1    | 58.7    | 49.9    | 54.4    |
| Assam                              | 60.7    | 38.2    | 49.6    | 64.3    | 25.5    | 45.0    | 61.1    | 36.8    | 49.1    |
| Bihar                              | 48.1    | 21.1    | 34.9    | 48.2    | 12.0    | 30.9    | 48.1    | 20.3    | 34.5    |
| Chhattisgarh                       | 65.2    | 50.4    | 57.8    | 63.6    | 27.9    | 46.4    | 64.9    | 46.1    | 55.5    |
| Delhi                              | 54.7    | 13.8    | 37.8    | 54.0    | 14.5    | 35.9    | 54.0    | 14.5    | 36.0    |
| Goa                                | 58.1    | 21.8    | 40.5    | 54.9    | 23.7    | 39.5    | 56.3    | 22.9    | 39.9    |
| Gujarat                            | 62.8    | 44.3    | 53.8    | 62.0    | 23.6    | 43.7    | 62.5    | 35.8    | 49.6    |
| Haryana                            | 51.8    | 20.2    | 37.1    | 56.3    | 16.7    | 37.9    | 53.5    | 18.8    | 37.4    |
| Himachal Pradesh                   | 64.9    | 58.7    | 61.7    | 64.2    | 35.7    | 51.4    | 64.8    | 56.2    | 60.5    |
| Jharkhand                          | 53.1    | 40.4    | 46.8    | 52.1    | 15.0    | 34.0    | 52.9    | 35.8    | 44.4    |
| Karnataka                          | 60.0    | 34.6    | 47.3    | 59.8    | 23.6    | 42.1    | 59.9    | 30.5    | 45.4    |
| Kerala                             | 59.7    | 36.2    | 47.3    | 58.4    | 30.3    | 43.3    | 59.1    | 33.4    | 45.4    |
| Madhya Pradesh                     | 63.2    | 45.4    | 54.6    | 58.7    | 22.3    | 40.7    | 62.0    | 39.4    | 51.0    |
| Maharashtra                        | 61.0    | 38.0    | 49.6    | 61.0    | 23.7    | 43.1    | 61.0    | 32.0    | 46.8    |
| Manipur                            | 52.8    | 36.5    | 44.6    | 52.4    | 35.7    | 43.9    | 52.7    | 36.3    | 44.4    |
| Meghalaya                          | 54.8    | 48.7    | 51.7    | 53.1    | 37.8    | 45.1    | 54.6    | 47.1    | 50.7    |
| Mizoram                            | 51.1    | 30.5    | 41.0    | 49.2    | 30.2    | 39.6    | 50.2    | 30.4    | 40.4    |
| Nagaland                           | 57.3    | 45.2    | 51.1    | 52.0    | 35.8    | 44.1    | 55.7    | 42.7    | 49.1    |
| Odisha                             | 61.9    | 40.3    | 50.8    | 59.1    | 24.4    | 42.0    | 61.5    | 38.0    | 49.4    |
| Punjab                             | 62.4    | 27.7    | 45.2    | 62.6    | 19.0    | 41.4    | 62.5    | 24.4    | 43.7    |
| Rajasthan                          | 56.4    | 43.0    | 49.6    | 56.8    | 23.5    | 40.9    | 56.5    | 38.0    | 47.3    |
| Sikkim                             | 67.1    | 65.5    | 66.4    | 61.1    | 26.2    | 46.0    | 65.7    | 56.9    | 61.7    |
| Tamil Nadu                         | 60.4    | 44.5    | 52.3    | 59.2    | 24.4    | 41.3    | 59.8    | 35.2    | 47.2    |
| Telangana                          | 61.4    | 44.0    | 52.4    | 57.5    | 24.5    | 41.3    | 59.8    | 36.5    | 48.0    |
| Tripura                            | 64.8    | 39.1    | 51.9    | 57.3    | 25.9    | 41.3    | 63.5    | 36.8    | 50.0    |
| Uttarakhand                        | 56.6    | 41.8    | 49.3    | 55.6    | 18.6    | 37.2    | 56.4    | 35.9    | 46.2    |
| Uttar Pradesh                      | 54.7    | 28.1    | 41.5    | 56.9    | 13.5    | 36.2    | 55.2    | 25.2    | 40.4    |
| West Bengal                        | 63.6    | 33.7    | 48.6    | 64.3    | 26.8    | 45.4    | 63.8    | 31.7    | 47.7    |
| Andaman & N. Island                | 67.5    | 44.6    | 56.5    | 67.9    | 30.0    | 49.3    | 67.7    | 38.0    | 53.3    |
| Chandigarh                         |         |         |         | 60.1    | 25.0    | 43.5    | 60.1    | 25.0    | 43.5    |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu | 62.1    | 54.3    | 58.3    | 69.9    | 18.5    | 47.9    | 66.7    | 34.7    | 52.3    |
| Jammu & Kashmir                    | 55.7    | 41.9    | 49.0    | 58.2    | 25.8    | 42.5    | 56.2    | 38.8    | 47.8    |
| Ladakh                             | 55.5    | 46.4    | 51.3    | 61.0    | 26.3    | 45.0    | 56.2    | 43.7    | 50.5    |
| Lakshadweep                        | 73.3    | 14.5    | 45.7    | 56.3    | 12.4    | 35.4    | 61.2    | 13.0    | 38.4    |
| Puducherry                         | 58.6    | 37.1    | 48.0    | 58.2    | 24.4    | 40.2    | 58.4    | 28.9    | 43.1    |
| all India                          | 57.9    | 35.5    | 46.8    | 59.0    | 22.3    | 41.0    | 58.2    | 31.7    | 45.1    |