st
21 Conference of Central and State Statistical Organisations(COCSSO) Panjim, Goa 23‐24 January, 2014 Agenda Item‐2 Labour and Employment Statistics Government of India
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
New Delhi
www.mospi.gov.in
21st CONFERENCE OF CENTRAL AND STATE STATISTICAL ORGANISATIONS
(23-24 January 2014, Panjim, Goa)
Agenda-2
Labour and Employment Statistics
Sl.No. 1. INDEX
Paper Labour and Employment Statistics Page No. 1‐8 Ministry of Labour and Employment 2. Status of Labour and Employment Statistics in India 9‐33 Paper by National Sample Survey Office, MoSPI 3. Trends in Labour Force Participation in Odisha‐ A Comparative Analysis 34‐43 Status Report by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Odisha 4. Labour and Employment Statistics 44‐46 5. Paper by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Kerala Labour and Unemployment Statistics 47‐48 Paper by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Assam LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS
Paper by Ministry of Labour & Employment
Background:
Collection of statistics is the primary responsibility of the government. A number of
Commission & Committees have emphasized the need for regular collection and publication
of Labour Statistics. The Royal Commission of Labour (1931) underlines the need for
collection of reliable and representative data on Labour Related Matters. It also
recommended the enactment of a Statistics Act for collection of data from employers,
merchants and others. Several working groups/ committees have been constituted to
examine the issues. In 1999, a study group on Labour Statistics was set up by the Ministry of
Labour under the Chairmanship of Professor L.K. Deshpande to review the whole area
relating to collection of Labour Statistics by different ministries and departments. The study
group undertook a comprehensive review of the problems and existing gaps in Labour
Statistics.
Current Status of Labour Statistics:
The Labour Statistics available today relate to:
1) Labour Force, Employment & Unemployment
2) Family Living Studies and Consumer price index
3) Data on wages
4) Industrial Relations
5) Social Security (ESI, PF etc.)
6) Bonded Labour
7) Working and Living Conditions of Workers in specific areas or industries
Main Agencies Collecting Labour Statistics
Ministry of Labour & Employment
1) Labour Bureau
2) DGET
3) DGMS
4) DGFASLI
5) ESIC
6) EPFO
7) NLI
Others
8) NSSO
9) RGI
10) Planning Commission
11) State Government
12) Researchers
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Issues, Gaps & Suggestions
Important issues including gaps & suggestions are listed below:
A) Various activities of the Ministry with special reference to Labour Bureau
I. Child Labour
Elimination of child labour is an area of great concern. National Policy on Child Labour,
declared in August 1987, addresses the complex issues of child labour. Under legislative
action plan, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits employment
of children below the age of 14 years.
As per survey of NSSO 2004-05, the number of working children was estimated at 90.75
lakhs. During 2009-10, NSSO estimated this number at 49.84 lakhs. We are not collecting
data relating involvement of children in hazardous occupations and process defined under
Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, being amended from time to time to
incorporate new occupations and process. We can collect data from 5 years and above of
working children across hazardous occupation and process. It would help in mainstreaming
working children in hazardous occupations by admitting them into bridge school under
National Child Labour Programme.
At present, child labour data (age group 5 to 14) is collected across gender, rural – urban
areas, education, sectorial occupations categories etc. Under EUS, information is collected
by Labour Bureau for the age group 15 and above. They can be instructed to collect data
collection from 5 years and above to estimate the child labour.
Labour Bureau can also launch separate survey at industry level to collect requisite data. Or
can club it with ongoing quarterly quick employment survey Child Labour is complicated
and multi-dimensional issues. The time-disposition study of young people along with
classification of their activities into economic and non-economic can give an insight into this
problem. For this purpose, a methodology will have to be found out through NSSO.
II. Skill
At present, there is rarely any adequate data of skilled persons consolidated at national
level, except some results by different Ministries as per reports of National Skill
Development Agency.
Under the Annual Employment -Unemployment Survey, data on the vocational training
received is collected. The type of training, period and institution from which the training is
acquired is also collected. Moreover its relevance/usefulness in the current job is also
captured. The following data may be disseminated based on the questionnaire designed
under the Fourth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey of Labour Bureau:
1.
No. of persons acquired vocational
State/UT/Sector/Gender/Social Group wise.
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training
in
different
fields
by
2.
Labour Force Participation Rate/Worker Population Ratio and Unemployment
Rate of persons who acquired vocational training at State/UT/Sector/Gender/Social Group
wise.
3.
Data for specific age group like 15-29 Years, 15-24 Years etc.
III Unorganized workers
“Unorganised worker” has been defined under the Unorganized Workers
Social Security Act, 2008 as the home-based worker, self-employed worker or a wage
worker in the unorganized sector and includes a worker in the organized sector who is not
covered by any of the Acts mentioned in schedule II of the Act. As per NSSO Survey 200910, the total employment in both unorganized and organized sectors in the country was of
the order of 46,5 crores(2.8 crore organized and 43.7 crore unorganized).
Unorganised or informal sector constitute a pivotal part of the Indian economy. More
than 90% of the workforce and 50% of the national product are accounted for by the informal
economy.
The Committee on Unorganised Sector Statistics of NSC in 2012 recommends regular
and timely disseminating of informal sector statistics. They also noted that NSSO/EUS and
enterprise survey until now are able to depict some notable features from the growing
informal sector and informal employment but not enough for proper policy framing
addressing their concern. Unless there is a full-fledged subject on informal sector alone,
labour bureau can ask more probing questions in forthcoming 4th EUS pertaining to informal
characteristics enterprises and the workforce, such as enterprise type, no of workers, paid
leave, type of contract etc. Based on NIC 2008, number of workers employed and their status
may be disseminated at State/gender/sector level.
IV Organized Labour:
Under the Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey, activity wise distribution of
workers are also collected. The various activities are self employed, regular wage/salaried
employee, casual and contract labour. Generally, it is assumed that regular wage/salaried
employee falls under the organized sector and this information is disseminated at
State/UT/Sector/Gender/Social Group level.
V Bonded labour
It is very difficult to collect information on bonded labour because it is an offence to keep
anyone in bondage. They cannot be approached directly. The Law and Order machinery
enforcing bonded labour system (Abolition Act), 1976 may have some information on the
area/activities which have tendency of employing bonded labour. In such areas/activities,
household surveys can be conducted to ascertain socio- economic conditions which lead to
the practice of bondage. M/o L&E may request NGOs to conduct such surveys prone to
bondage.
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VI.
Occupational Wage Survey (OWS)
Occupational wage survey is being conducted since 1958-59 in different rounds with the
objective to collect (a) occupation wise data on employment, wage rates and dearness
allowance for building up wage rate index numbers, and (b) data on different components of
pay roll earnings for different occupations for scientific studies of inter-industry and intraindustry differential in Manufacturing, Mining and Plantation Sectors. The total number of
industries covered in different rounds of OWS has undergone changes. While the first round
(1958-59) covered 44 industries (viz. 37 Manufacturing, 4 Mining and 3 Plantation
industries), the sixth round which was taken up in 2002, has a coverage of 33 selected
industries. The work under the component is held up due to non-availability of regular staff
as well as diversion of scanty manpower in other schemes like Quarterly Quick Employment
Survey.
VII. Contract Labour Survey
Contract labour survey aims at studying the extent and nature of problems faced by them
and working conditions of contract labour employed in different segments of industries vis-àvis the provisions under the Contract Labour(Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.
Information collected under the survey relates to contractor wise employment of contract
labour, jobs performed by such labour, reasons for preferring employment of contract
labour, working conditions, wages and allowances, fines and deductions, welfare facilities,
social securities industrial relations, maintenance of records by the contractor, etc.
Labour Bureau has been conducting All India Industry specific Contract Labour Surveys
since 1956-57. So far 46 surveys have been conducted in 39 industries ( 7 Repeat surveys
have been conducted in 5 industries viz., Rice Milling Industry, Iron Ore Mines, Petroleum
Refineries and Oil Field Industry, Building & Construction and Iron and Steel Industries).
VIII.
Socio-economic Surveys of Different Segments of Labour by Labour Bureau
As a follow up of the Zero Base Budgeting exercise of the schemes of Labour Bureau,
the Ministry of Labour merged the erstwhile four Plan schemes of Labour Bureau into one
scheme titled “Socio-economic Surveys of Different Segments of Labour” from 2001-02.
The segment –wise detail of the scheme is as under: a)
Survey of Working and Living Conditions of Workers belonging to Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes Communities in Urban Areas.
The Working Group on Labour Statistics (Fourth Plan) in its meeting held in February,
1964 recommended collection of data on certain aspects of Working and Living Conditions
of Labour belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Communities with a view
to assess ways and means to be adopted for their welfare and improving their lot. Planning
Commission had also observed that paucity of such data had been causing great difficulty in
planning and formulating effective measures for ameliorating their conditions. The National
Commission on Labour (1969) too had emphasized the importance and need for collection of
data concerning the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Labour.
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In pursuance of the above recommendations, the Ministry of Labour entrusted this work to
Labour Bureau for the conduct of the following two studies:
i) Working and Living Conditions of the Scheduled Castes Workers engaged in four unclean
occupations: i) Sweeping and Scavenging, ii) Flaying and Tanning iii) Bone-crushing and
iv) Shoe-making in Urban Areas.
(ii) Socio-economic Conditions of the Scheduled Tribes Labour in Industrial Cities.
Both these surveys are conducted in different centers/industrial cities to examine the working
& living conditions. So far 9 such surveys have been conducted in each component.
b) Survey of Working and Living Conditions of Workers engaged in the unorganised sector
of Industries.
National Commission on Labour (1969) recommended the conduct of detailed technical
surveys into the working and living conditions of unorganized workers. Accepting the
recommendations, the work was assigned to Labour Bureau to conduct detailed surveys on
the working and living conditions of workers engaged in the Unorganized Sector of
Industries/employments for amelioration of their conditions. Labour Bureau initiated action
for conducting these surveys in the year 1977-78. So far 31 such surveys have been
conducted under the scheme and reports in respect of all the surveys have been released.
Latest survey under the unorganized sector was conducted in leather industry including
Footwear and other Art works, the report for which has been released.
c) Socio-economic Conditions of Women Workers in Industry.
The Scheme, "Socio-Economic Conditions of Women Workers in Industry" was taken up
in the year 1975 as a part of the research programme of the Bureau. The scheme aims at
collecting data on Women Workers with a view to study their working and living conditions
and welfare facilities available to them vis-a-vis the labour laws. Earlier the scheme covered
women workers employed in organized sector viz Mines, Plantations and Factories covered
under the respective Acts only. Later on the scope was, however, enlarged to unorganized
sector also employing a large number of women workers. After covering the industries of the
organized sector, viz. Mines, Plantations and Manufacturing industries in the first instance,
Surveys were conducted in unorganized sector viz. Building and Construction, Khadi and
Handloom industries, (Haryana, U.P., Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Bihar and Gujarat) Beedi Making, Readymade Garments, Agarbatti, Lime and Cashewnut
Processing Industry. So far 21 surveys of women workers have been conducted in various
sectors of employment and all the reports have been released.
d) All India Survey on the Evaluation of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
The Scheme aims at evaluating the extent to which the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 has
been implemented in various scheduled Employments in different parts of the country. So far
12 Evaluation Studies have been conducted in the employment of Agriculture in the 11 States
viz. Gujarat, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Districts of Eastern Uttar
Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh except Eastern Districts Meghalaya
and West Bengal. The studies have also been conducted in 'Bauxite Mines', and 'Building and
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Construction' in the Central Sphere; Beedi Making Establishments in 6 States viz. Uttar
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka and
Building and Construction Establishments in 4 States viz. Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu and Maharashtra in the State sphere and Stone Breaking & Stone Crushing Industry in
Karnataka & Gujarat. 27 surveys have been conducted so far and reports have been released.
The scope coverage and frequency of the study needs to be enhanced. Labour Bureau should
encourage State Governments /UTs to conduct evaluation studies in their own States/UTs
IX Quarterly Quick Employment Survey
Labour Bureau has been conducting Quarterly Quick Employment surveys in the selected
labour-intensive and export-oriented sectors, namely, textiles including apparels, metals,
gems & jewellery, automobiles, transport, IT/BPO, leather and handloom/powerloom to
assess the effect of economic slowdown on employment in India since January, 2009. So far
eighteen such surveys have been conducted by Labour Bureau and reports thereon released.
According to the survey results, overall estimated employment in all selected sectors has
experienced a net addition of 30.99 lakh starting from the first survey (October, 2008 to
December, 2008) till the 18th Survey (April, 2013 to June, 2013).
X. Annual Employment – Unemployment Survey
Employment-Unemployment Statistics is an important input for policy and planning
purposes. After the advent of Global Economic slowdown and its impact on employment in
different countries, including India, the importance of Employment-Unemployment Statistics
on regular & frequent intervals has increased manifold. Labour Bureau has been entrusted the
responsibility of conducting Annual Employment-Unemployment surveys. So far three such
annual Employment- Unemployment surveys have been conducted by Labour Bureau and
thereon reports released. The fourth Employment-Unemployment survey has since been
launched.
B) Data gaps in Employment – Unemployment Survey with specific reference to
informal economy
i) Self – Employed
Lack of information on income for the self-employed: An area where we need to put more
emphasis is on the issue of gathering information on income for the workers who are selfemployed in various categories. There is some effort to get information about the range of
incomes, with respect to whether they are satisfied or not in the Employment –
Unemployment Survey, but this may not be helpful if we would like to understand their
income situation . It would be advisable to look at the income aspect also.
ii) Domestic Workers
Estimation of domestic workers is not accurate and their employment relationship and other
associated characteristics are lacking. Domestic workers are classified with other workers
who perform services at the household level such as security guards and gardeners etc. in the
national industrial classifications. Further, the sub-categories of private households with
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employed persons are not clearly defined which makes it difficult to estimate domestic
workers. There is no way to differentiate part time and full time domestic workers from the
data. As the domestic workers constitute one of the largest category in the informal sector
and largely invisible and subject to lot of exploitation, there is a need to count these workers
better, their employment relationship, wages and earnings and other characteristics for
designing appropriate policies.
iii) Home based workers and Home workers
Home based and home workers are the other two categories which largely overlap in the NSS
database and not easy to distinguish. While home based workers largely work through subcontracting arrangements for principal enterprises, home workers usually operate on their
own. It would be important to distinguish both types of workers, which would enable one to
exactly map their prevalence, industry of work, employment relationships, contractual
arrangements with principal enterprises.
iv) Social Protection
Coverage of Social Protection is a key issue. However, present data doesn’t provide coverage
of all the population (workers as well as non-workers) under various types of social
protection benefits across the life cycle. In the context of labour force, present statistics is
partially relevant only for usual principal status workers and their coverage under some of the
protective benefits. However, the data system needs to provide coverage of subsidiary
workers, unemployed and those outside the labour force across both protective and
promotional social security schemes. It would be also better to take note of central/state
sponsored schemes, amount of benefit, number of persons receiving etc. Coverage of
workers under social security schemes is highly underestimated in the NSS surveys at
present.
C) Issues, gaps, suggestions in respect of employment statistics with reference to
DGE&T
Directorate General of Employment & Training (DEG&T)
The DGE&T was set up in 1945 for the purpose of resettling demobilized defence service
personnel and discharged war workers. It was subsequently extended to provide employment
service to all categories of job seekers in 1948 and training services to civilians in 1952. The
DGE&T is generating valuable statistics relating to employment situation and job seekers in
the country through the administration of the employment exchanges under various
provisions of the Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies Act, 1959)
and its Employment Market Information Programme(EMIP). Apprentices Act, 1961 is also
one of the statutory provisions enforced by DGE&T.
The limitations of the data generated by the DGE&T are:
The data doesn’t include data of private recruitment agencies
i) No periodic updating of the employers and job seekers registers
ii) Poor and low response from the employers
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iii) Lack of computerization of data resulting in delayed retrievals
iv) Contract labour not on payrolls of employers escape enumeration in the employment
exchange statistics
v) Medium and small units are not responsive and prompt in furnishing information
vi) Lack of periodic revision results in the over estimation of unemployment level and under
estimation of employment level
vii) Employment exchanges do not give data on the unemployment level in rural areas
It is important to redefine the role of the employment exchanges to meet the new challenges.
At present, the Director General of Employment and Training collects information
relating to employment, occurrence of vacancies and modes of filling vacancies by the
organized sector on a quarterly basis. Economic Census is carried out once in five years and
gives a broad picture about the employment situation in the establishments both in the
organized and unorganized sector. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) carries out
employment and unemployment surveys once in 5 years. Our country is facing acute problem
of underemployment in terms of the income level of the workers already working in various
sectors. Therefore, we have to develop a system through which availability of skill and wage
movement at household level are studied in detail on periodic basis.
D) Shortcomings of Labour Statistics & Suggestions
i) Labour Statistics as it stands today is not dependable. Industries do not have an obligation
to submit the returns prescribed under the law. The collectors of data do not have any
obligation to publish the data on time. Some State Governments have a gap of 3 to 4 years
before the data is released. As a result of this poor quality and unreliable frequency of data,
policy makers do not find it easy to rely on them or make use of them. The database that is
available suffers from serious deficiencies such as:
a) Inadequacy of data
b) Absence of fixed periodicity for getting information
c) Low/varying and delayed response of the returns under various Acts
d) Poor quality and incompleteness of information
e) Surveys/studies not reflecting the current economic scenario
f) Non-availability of micro level/ de-segregated information
ii) Use of Information Technology and developing a digital labour information system.
Keeping in view the expanse of our country and the vast data to be collected from various
sources, it is necessary to discard the present manual system of handling data compilation
and transmission. The data should be available on line and the computer network should
connect various Divisions in the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Planning Commission,
Labour Departments of State Governments, different wings of the Labour Bureau, NLI and
various research institutes, NSSO. This labour networking will ensure speedier dissemination
of information. Thus it is necessary that labour related information is made available in a
structured, comprehensive and meaningful manner.
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STATUS OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS IN INDIA
Paper by National Sample Survey Office, MoSPI
1. Introduction
1.1 The labour market plays a significant role in determining progress of the nation.
Availability of periodic, adequate and reliable data on various aspects of labour market of the
country are required for planning, policy and decision making at the various levels, both
within the government and outside. The statistical indicators of labour and employment are
the critical inputs to the planners and policymakers for making policy formulations directed
towards welfare of the people. A larger rate of participation by the people in economic
activities is likely to raise their standard of living and accordingly reduce the poverty.
Employment plays a key role in distribution of benefits of high rates of economic growth to
achieve the goal of poverty reduction. To assess whether the benefits of such growth reach all
sections of the society, up to date data sets on various characteristics pertaining to labour and
employment along with their correlates with respect to different socio-economic aspects are
essential for different cross-sections of population.
1.2 The need for regular collection, compilation and publication of basic labour force
statistics of a country has been stressed upon by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
As per the resolution of the Thirteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians
(ICLS, 1982) “Each country should aim at developing a comprehensive system of statistics
on the economic activity of the population in order to provide an adequate statistical base for
the various users of the statistics taking account of the specific national needs and
circumstances. In particular the system should provide for needs in connection with the
measurement of the extent of available and unused labour time and human resources for
purposes of macro-economic monitoring and human resources development planning and the
measurement of the relationships between employment income and other social and
economic characteristics for purposes of formulating and monitoring employment policies
and programmes, income-generating and maintenance schemes, vocational training and
other similar programmes”.
1.3 Official data on labour and employment are available from the census/surveys of the
different agencies or as a by-product of the administrative records of different agencies. The
coverage of enterprises/population from which data are collected varies from one agency to
the other. From the different sources, data on employment by industry, type of enterprise,
occupation, education, level of living etc., wages of the employees and unemployment,
underemployment are available on a periodic basis. Data on employment in the informal
sector and informal employment are also available on a regular basis. These data are
normally available annually or once in a period of five years/ten years. There is demand from
the stakeholders for availability of labour market data more frequently. Moreover, adequate
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data are not available from any source to fill up data gaps on issues like child labour, decent
work, green job to support to the international norms and standards.
2. Major Sources of Employment and Unemployment Data in India
2.1 A number of agencies are involved in collecting labour and employment data through the
surveys/censuses conducted by them or through the returns submitted by the establishments
to them. The major agencies collecting data on employment and unemployment for the
country are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)
Central Statistics Office (CSO)
Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India
Labour Bureau
Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGE&T)
Development Commissioner, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME)
Directorates of Economics & Statistics of various States and Union Territories
Apart from these sources, data pertaining to the workers of the different Ministries of the
Central/State Governments are available from the administrative records of the concerned
Ministries.
2.2 Surveys of NSSO
2.2.1 Employment and Unemployment Survey (EUS): The Employment and Unemployment
Survey (EUS) of the quinquennial rounds of NSSO is the major source of data pertaining to
various characteristics of labour and employment. In these surveys, detailed information
pertaining to employment and unemployment are collected with the survey coverage for the
entire country and labour force indicators cross classified by age, sex, education, level of
living, industry of work, occupation of the worker etc. are generated once in a gap of 5 years.
These surveys also provide estimates of average daily wages of the employees, employment
in the informal sector and informal employment. Starting from NSS 27th round (Oct, 1972 Sept 1973) nine such surveys have so far been conducted by NSSO. The last survey in the series
is the EUS of NSS 68th round (July 2011 – June 2012).
2.2.2 Enterprise Surveys of NSSO: Apart from EUS of NSSO, enterprise surveys conducted
by NSSO collect data on workers with the classification of workers as working owner, formal
hired worker, informal hired worker and other workers. These surveys are conducted as
follow-up surveys of Economic Census and the coverage of the enterprises is restricted to
non-agricultural enterprises in the unorganized sector. From these surveys, estimates of
employment and compensation to employees are available by gender, industry, type of
establishment at the state/UT level for each sector. The last enterprise survey with the
coverage of ‘unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises (excluding construction)’ was
conducted in NSS 67th round (July 2010 - June 2011). Prior to this, current enterprise surveys
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with the coverage of the different sectors of economy viz. unorganized manufacturing/
unorganized service/trade, unorganized manufacturing and service sectors were conducted by
NSSO in its 53rd (January – December 1997), 55th (July 1999 - June 2000), 56th (July 2000
– June 2001), 57th (July 2001 – June 2002), 62nd (July 2005 – June 2006) and 63rd (July
2006 – June 2007) rounds.
2.3 Economic Census (EC) and Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) of CSO
2.3.1 Economic Census (EC): The Economic Census conducted by CSO every five years
gives the complete count of all establishments/units located within the geographical
boundaries of the country. At present coverage of EC is non-agricultural activities and also
agricultural activities excluding crop production and plantation as per the establishmentbased approach of data collection. In case of non-agriculture, establishments engaged in
public administration, defence, compulsory social security (Section ‘O’ of NIC-2008),
activities of households as employers of domestic personnel (Section ‘T’ of NIC-2008),
activities of territorial organizations and bodies (Section ‘U’ of NIC-2008) and Gambling &
betting activities under Group 920 (Section ‘R’ of NIC-2008, which are declared illegal), are
not covered in EC. From the Economic Census, information on number of workers engaged
in various non-agricultural activities and also in agricultural activities excluding crop
production and plantation is available. This information on number of workers is available
with the break-up for male/female and hired/not-hired. So far five ECs have been undertaken
by the CSO. The first Economic Census was conducted in 1977. The fieldwork for Sixth EC
is continuing at present.
2.3.2 Annual Survey of Industries (ASI): The ASI was launched in 1960 with 1959 as the
reference year and is continuing since then except for 1972. The ASI extends to the entire
country and covers all factories registered under Sections 2m(i) and 2m(ii) of the Factories
Act, 1948 i.e. those factories employing 10 or more workers using power; and those
employing 20 or more workers without using power. The survey also covers bidi and cigar
manufacturing establishments registered under the Bidi & Cigar Workers (Conditions of
Employment) Act, 1966 with coverage as above. The coverage of the follow-up enterprise
surveys of NSSO is restricted to the non-agricultural enterprises in the unorganized sector.
The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) conducted annually by the CSO provides estimates of
employment and compensation to employees in the organized manufacturing sector based on
the frame of units employing 10 or more workers using power or 20 or more workers not
using power.
2.4 Population Census of Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India
2.4.1 The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of
Home Affairs, conducts Population Census in India once in every ten years since 1881.
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Census 2011 is the fifteenth in the continuous series. Along with the collection of many
socio-economic characteristics of individuals, census collects some limited information
regarding participation of individuals in economic activities. From the Population Census,
data on number of main workers and marginal workers are available along with their breakup by four categories of workers namely, cultivators, agricultural labour, workers in
household industry, and other workers. This information is available at the lower level of the
administrative units’ viz. district level, village/ward/town level.
2.5 Surveys of Labour Bureau
2.5.1 Annual Employment - Unemployment Survey: At present, estimates of employment
and unemployment are obtained from NSSO once in every five years and from Registrar
General and Census Commissioner of India once in every ten years. To meet the requirement
of annual data on employment and unemployment, annual survey on employment and
unemployment is being conducted by Labour Bureau since 2010. The Survey is being
conducted in all the States/UTs by covering all the districts in the country. The results of the
3rd annual survey on employment and unemployment have been released. The survey period
of the 4th annual survey on employment and unemployment is December 2013 to June 2014.
The concepts and definitions followed by Labour Bureau for identification of activity
participation of the individuals are similar to that of NSSO. The employment and
unemployment survey of Labour Bureau gives annual estimates of labour force participation
rate, worker population ratio, unemployment rate based on four different approaches viz.
usual principal status approach, usual principal & subsidiary status approach, current weekly
status approach & current daily status approach. The indicators of the structural aspects of
the workforce such as status in employment, industrial distribution and occupational
distribution are also derived from the survey.
2.5.2 Rural Labour Enquiry (RLE): First RLE was conducted by Labour Bureau
during 1963-64. Subsequent RLEs were conducted during 1974-75; 1977-78; 1983; 1987-88;
1993-94, 1999-2000, 2004-05 and 2009-10.The main objective of rural labour enquiry is the
collection of basic data required for revision/ construction of new series of CPI number for
Agricultural and Rural Labour. Data collected in RLE pertains to demographic structure,
extent of employment and unemployment, wages and earnings, household consumption
expenditure, indebtedness etc. As part of Rural Labour Enquiry, daily wage rates in respect
of eighteen agricultural and non-agricultural occupations (11 agricultural and 7 nonagricultural) from a fixed set of 600 sample villages spread over various National Sample
Survey (NSS) regions in 20 States are being collected on a monthly basis along with rural
retail price data by the Field Operations Division of the NSSO since 1986-87.
2.5.3 Quick Survey on Changes in Employment Situation in Selected Sectors: To
measure quarterly changes in employment situation in selected sectors, Labour Bureau is
conducting this enterprise survey since January, 2009. The first survey for the quarter
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October-December, 2008 was conducted during January, 2009 after the Ministry of Labour
and Employment noticed that the periodicity of the employment-unemployment surveys
conducted in India was too long to capture the changes in employment situation following
global financial crisis. In this survey, information is collected on number of employees and
earnings as on the last working day of the previous months for males and females by
category of employment direct and contract. The major limitation of this survey is that the
survey covers only eight sectors of the economy viz. Textiles, Leather, Metals, Automobiles,
Gems & Jewellery, Transport, IT/BPO and Handloom/Powerloom , Mining.
2.6 Employment Market Information Programme (EMI) of DGET
2.6.1 The EMI Programme of the DGE&T is an important source of data on employment.
The EMI programme of DGET was initiated in the year 1955 as a Pilot Project in Delhi. At
present the EMI Programme is being implemented in all the States and Union Territories of
the country except Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and
Lakshadweep. The data collected under EMI cover only the organised sector of the economy
including all establishments in the public sector irrespective of their size and non-agricultural
establishments in the private sector employing 10 or more persons. Under the EMI
programme collection of data is done following the “establishment reporting system”. The
establishments are required to furnish quarterly information about the number of persons they
employ by sex, vacancies that have occurred and the type of persons which are in short
supply. The establishments are also required to furnish information once in two years relating
to occupational and educational details of the employees. The main objectives of EMI
Programme include providing information about the structure of employment in the public
and private sectors at the area, state and national levels; presenting occupational composition
and educational profile of employees in the public and private sector establishments;
identification of the occupations which are characteristic to a given industry; assessing the
manpower shortages in various industries and in various occupations in the organised sector
and monitoring the progress in generating employment in organized sector during the Five
Year Plans.
2.7 Census cum survey of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME)
2.7.1 Following the establishment-based approach of data collection, census of registered
MSME units gives distribution of employment in the registered MSME sector by industry,
gender, social category, type of enterprise (i.e. micro, small and medium) and type of
organization (namely, proprietary, partnership, private company, public limited company,
cooperatives, and others). The census on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is
conducted once in 5 years and the data for the latest (the Fourth) all India Census of MSME
with reference year2006-07 was collected till 2009 and the results were published in 201112. The census adopted different methodology for registered and unregistered sectors. While
13
complete enumeration of enterprises was adopted in registered sector, sample survey was
resorted to in unregistered sector. Surveys of unregistered MSME units also provide estimates
of number of workers in such units and their distribution by various characteristics as in the case
of registered MSME units.
2.8 So far as labour and employment statistics is concerned, censuses provide only limited
information on employment particulars. However, the census database can be efficiently used
as the sampling frame to draw samples for conduct of sample surveys to collect detailed
information on employment and unemployment. Another major advantage of the census data
is that data for any smaller geographical region or sub-set of the population can be generated
from the census for decentralized planning purposes.
3 Population Census, Quinquennial EUS of NSSO, annual EUS of Labour Bureau
3.1 It may be noted that none of the surveys/censuses where information on employment and
unemployment is collected through enterprise approaches has the full coverage of all the
sectors of economy of the country. At present, the employment and unemployment surveys
of the quinquennial rounds of NSSO, population census of India and annual employment and
unemployment surveys of Ministry of Labour, where relevant information is collected from
the households, provide employment and labour statistics with the coverage of all the sectors
of economy for the entire country. In view of this, types of information collected on labour
and employment in population census, quinquennial EUS of NSSO and annual EUS of
Labour Bureau and the relevant concepts and definitions followed therein are explained
below in details.
3.2 Information collected and Concepts followed in population census: In the Population
Census, information with respect to participation of individuals in economic activities is
collected in terms of the following items
(i) whether worked any time during last year,
(ii) if worked, category of economic activity,
(iii) for workers in household industry and other workers, type of occupation, nature of
industry/ trade/service and class of worker, and
(iv) for the marginal and non-workers, type of non-economic activities performed and
whether sought or was available for work during last year.
The reference period for determining a person as worker and non-worker is one year
preceding the date of enumeration. Work is defined as participation in any economically
productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit. Such participation may be
physical and/or mental in nature. Work involves not only actual work but also includes
effective supervision and direction of work. It even includes part time help or unpaid work
on farm, family enterprise or in any other economic activity. All persons engaged in 'work' as
defined above are workers. Persons who were engaged in cultivation or milk production even
14
solely for domestic consumption were also treated as workers. A person who did not work at
all during the reference period was treated as non-worker. The non-workers broadly
constitute persons who are seeking/available for work (unemployed), students, persons
doing household duties (attending to daily household chores like cooking, cleaning utensils,
looking after children, fetching water etc.), dependent, pensioner, rentier, beggar and others.
The workers are further classified as main workers and marginal workers. Those who worked
for 6 months or more during last year are classified as main workers and those who worked
for less than 6 months are classified as marginal workers. In Population Census 2011,
marginal workers were further classified in two separate categories viz. those who worked
for 3 months or more and those who worked for less than 3 months. For the main/marginal
workers, economic activity was collected in terms of four (4) categories as cultivator,
agricultural labour, worked in household industry and other worker. Information on ‘class of
worker’ was collected in terms of employer, employee, single worker and family worker.
3.3 Information collected and Concepts followed in quinquennial EUS of NSSO
3.3.1 The main objective of the employment and unemployment surveys conducted by NSSO
at periodic interval is to get estimates of level parameters of various employment and
unemployment characteristics at national and State/UT level. The critical issues in the
context of labour force enquiries pertain to defining the labour force and measuring
participation of labour force in different economic activities. The activity participation of the
people is not only dynamic but also multidimensional - it varies with region, age, education,
gender, level of living, industry and occupational category. These aspects of the labour force
are captured in detail in the employment and unemployment surveys of NSSO.
3.3.2 The last quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment was conducted by
NSSO in its 68th round (July 2011-June 2012) where a range of information was collected on
the following aspects:
i) Household characteristics like household size, household type, religion and social group
of the household, land owned, possessed and cultivated by the household, etc.
ii) Demographic particulars of the household members like age, sex, educational level,
status of current attendance, status of registration in placement agency, vocational training
received, etc.
iii) Particulars of usual principal activity, usual subsidiary economic activity, current weekly
activity and current daily activity for all the members of the sample households. For persons
engaged in economic activities, information on detailed activity status, industry of work,
occupation, wage and salary earnings of the employees for the work done during the
reference week was also collected. For those who were unemployed on all the 7 days of the
reference week, information was collected regarding the duration of the present spell of
unemployment.
15
iv) Particulars of the enterprise like location of work place, type of enterprises, number of
workers in the enterprise etc. for the usual principal status workers and usual subsidiary
status workers engaged in industries other than growing of crops, plant propagation and
mixed farming.
v) Particulars on conditions of employment like type of job contract, eligibility for paid
leave, availability of social security benefits and mode of payment for the usual principal
status employees and usual subsidiary status employees engaged in industries other than
growing of crops, plant propagation and mixed farming.
vi) Particulars regarding extent of underutilization of the labour time, nature of employment
(permanent/temporary), existence of union/ association in their activity, etc. for persons who
were employed either in usual principal status or in usual subsidiary status.
vii) Particulars regarding participation in specified activities like (i) maintenance of kitchen
garden, (ii) work in household poultry/diary, (iii) free collection of primary goods, husking of
paddy, grinding of food grains, making baskets, sewing, tailoring, weaving for household
use, tutoring of own children or others’ children free of charge, etc. for persons who were
classified as engaged in domestic duties in the usual principal status.
3.3.3 The concepts of employed, different categories of employed, unemployed etc. as laid
down in the instructions for filling up the employment and unemployment schedule
(Schedule 10) are reproduced below:
Economic activity: The entire spectrum of human activity falls into two categories –
economic activities and non-economic activities. Any activity resulting in production of
goods and services that add value to national product was considered as an economic activity
for the employment and unemployment survey. Such activities included (i) production of all
goods and services for market (i.e. for pay or profit) including those of government services,
(ii) production of primary commodities for own consumption and (iii) own account
production of fixed assets. The full spectrum of economic activities as defined in the UN
system of National Accounts was not covered in the definition adopted for the NSS 68th
round survey of Employment and Unemployment. Although production of any good for own
consumption is considered as economic activity by UN System of National Accounts yet
production of only primary goods for own consumption was considered as economic activity
by NSSO for the purpose of the survey. While the former considers activities like own
account processing of primary products as economic activities, in the NSS surveys,
processing of primary products for own consumption was not considered as economic
activity.
Workers (or employed): Persons who were engaged in any economic activity or who, despite
their attachment to economic activity, abstained themselves from work for reason of illness,
injury or other physical disability, bad weather, festivals, social or religious functions or
16
other contingencies necessitating temporary absence from work, constituted workers. Unpaid
helpers who assisted in the operation of an economic activity in the household farm or nonfarm activities were also considered as workers.
Seeking or available for work (or unemployed): Persons who, owing to lack of work, had not
worked but either sought work through employment exchanges, intermediaries, friends or
relatives or by making applications to prospective employers or expressed their willingness
or availability for work under the prevailing conditions of work and remuneration, were
considered as those ‘seeking or available for work’ (or unemployed).
Labour Force: Persons who were either 'working' (or employed) or 'seeking or available for
work' (or unemployed) constituted the labour force. Persons with activity status codes 11 –
82 constituted the labour force.
Not in labour force: Persons who were neither 'working' nor 'seeking or available for work'
for various reasons during the reference period were considered as 'not in labour force'.
Persons under this category are students, those engaged in domestic duties, rentiers,
pensioners, recipients of remittances, those living on alms, infirm or disabled persons, too
young persons, prostitutes, etc. and casual labourers not working due to sickness. Activity
status codes 91-95, 97 and 98 were assigned for persons belonging to category 'not in labour
force'.
Self-employed: Persons who operated their own farm or non-farm enterprises or were
engaged independently in a profession or trade on own-account or with one or a few partners
were deemed to be self-employed in household enterprises. The essential feature of the selfemployed is that they have autonomy (decide how, where and when to produce) and
economic independence (in respect of choice of market, scale of operation and finance) for
carrying out their operation. The remuneration of the self-employed consists of a nonseparable combination of two parts: a reward for their labour and profit of their enterprise.
The combined remuneration is wholly determined by the revenue from sales after netting out
value of purchased inputs used in production. Self-employed persons were further
categorised as follows:
(i) own-account workers: those self-employed persons who operated their enterprises on
their own account or with one or a few partners and who, during the reference period, by and
large, ran their enterprise without hiring any labour. They could, however, have had unpaid
helpers to assist them in the activity of the enterprise;
(ii) employers: those self-employed persons who worked on their own account or with
one or a few partners and, who, by and large, ran their enterprise by hiring labour; and
(iii) helpers in household enterprise: those self-employed persons (mostly family
members) who were engaged in their household enterprises, working full or part time and did
not receive any regular salary or wages in return for the work performed. They did not run
17
the household enterprise on their own but assisted the related person living in the same
household in running the household enterprise.
Regular wage/salaried employee: These were persons who worked in others’ farm or nonfarm enterprises (both household and non-household) and, in return, received salary or wages
on a regular basis (i.e. not on the basis of daily or periodic renewal of work contract). This
category included not only persons getting time wage but also persons receiving piece wage
or salary and paid apprentices, both full time and part-time.
Casual Wage Labourer: A person who was casually engaged in others’ farm or non-farm
enterprises (both household and non-household) and, in return, received wages according to
the terms of the daily or periodic work contract, was a casual wage labourer.
3.3.4 Different approaches to measure activity status: In the EUS of NSSO, persons surveyed
are classified into different activity categories on the basis of the activities pursued by them
during a specified reference period. On the basis of the three reference periods used viz. (i)
one year, (ii) one week, and (iii) each day of the week, three different measures of activity
status are arrived at. Those are termed as usual status, current weekly status, and the current
daily status. The procedures followed for determination of activity statuses in different
approaches are explained below:
Usual principal activity status: The usual activity status relates to the activity status of a
person during the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey. The activity
status on which a person spent relatively long time (i.e. major time criterion) during the 365
days preceding the date of survey is considered as the usual principal activity status of the
person. To decide the usual principal activity of a person, first a two stage dichotomous
classification was followed for determining the broad usual principal activity status
(employed or unemployed or not in labour force) of the person. At the first stage, persons
were first categorised as those in the labour force (either employed or unemployed) and those
not in the labour force depending on the major time spent during the 365 days preceding the
date of survey. Persons thus adjudged as not belonging to the labour force were assigned the
broad activity status 'neither working nor available for work' (not in the labour force). At the
second stage, for persons belonging to the labour force, the broad activity status of either
'working' (employed) or ‘not working but seeking and/or available for work’ (unemployed)
was ascertained based on the same criterion viz. relatively long time spent in accordance with
either of the two broad statuses within the labour force during the 365 days preceding the
date of survey. Within the broad activity status so determined, the detailed activity status of
a person pursuing more than one such activity was determined once again on the basis of the
relatively long time spent on such activities.
Usual subsidiary economic activity status: A person whose usual principal status was
determined on the basis of the major time criterion could have pursued some economic
activity for a shorter time throughout the reference year of 365 days preceding the date of
18
survey or for a minor period, which is not less than 30 days, during the reference year. The
status in which such economic activity was pursued was the subsidiary economic activity
status of that person.
Usual activity status considering principal and subsidiary status taken together: The usual
status, determined on the basis of the usual principal activity and usual subsidiary economic
activity of a person taken together, is considered as the usual activity status of the person and
is written as usual status (ps+ss). According to the usual status (ps+ss), workers are those
who perform some work activity either in the principal status or in the subsidiary status.
Thus, a person who is not a worker in the usual principal status is considered as worker
according to the usual status (ps+ss), if the person pursues some subsidiary economic activity
for 30 days or more during 365 days preceding the date of survey.
Current weekly activity status: The current weekly activity status of a person is the activity
status obtaining for a person during a reference period of 7 days preceding the date of survey.
It is decided on the basis of a certain priority cum major time criterion. According to the
priority criterion, the status ‘working’ gets priority over the status ‘not working but seeking
or available for work’ that, in turn, gets priority over the status ‘neither working nor available
for work’. A person was considered ‘working’ (or employed) if he/she, while pursuing any
economic activity, had worked for at least one hour on at least one day during the 7 days
preceding the date of survey. A person was considered ‘seeking or available for work’ (or
unemployed) if, during the reference week, no economic activity was pursued by the person
but he/she made efforts to get work or had been available for work any time during the
reference week though not actively seeking work in the belief that no work was available. A
person who had neither worked nor was available for work any time during the reference
week was considered as engaged in non-economic activities (or not in labour force). After
deciding the broad current weekly activity status of a person on the basis of 'priority'
criterion, the detailed current activity status was then decided on the basis of 'major time'
criterion if that person pursued multiple economic activities.
Current daily activity status: The current daily activity status for a person was determined on
the basis of his/her activity status on each day of the reference week using a priority-cummajor time criterion (day to day labour time disposition). For each day of the reference week,
time disposition was recorded for two activities. The activities were identified in terms of
'activity status' and 'industry' codes for persons in urban areas and 'activity status', 'industry'
and 'operation' codes for persons in rural areas.
3.3.5 Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators derived by NSSO
19
Based on the classification of the individuals into various activity categories in the three
approaches, labour force indicators like, labour force participation rate (LFPR), worker
population ratio (WPR), unemployment rate (UR) are derived in usual status (ps), usual
status (ps+ss), current weekly status (CWS) and current daily status (CDS). These indicators
are defined as follows:
1. Labour force participation rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the number of persons/
person-days in the labour force (which includes both the employed and unemployed) per
1000 persons /person-days
2. Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR defined as the number of persons/person-days
employed per 1000 persons/person-days.
3. Proportion Unemployed (PU): It is defined as the number of persons/person-days
unemployed per 1000 persons/person-days.
4. Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the number of persons/person-days
unemployed per 1000 persons/person-days in the labour force.
From the EUS of NSSO, estimates are also derived for wages of employees, extent of
underemployment etc. The indicators of the structural aspects of the workforce such as status
in employment, industrial distribution and occupational distribution are also derived from
these surveys. Besides, from the data collected on the particulars of enterprises and
conditions of employment, the aspects of employment in the informal sector and informal
employment are reflected through the conceptual framework of the survey.
3.3.6 Relevance of Measuring Indicators in Three Approaches
The three measures or approaches, viz., ‘usual activity status’ ‘current weekly activity
status’ and ‘current daily activity status’ reflects the labour market indicators under perennial
(long term) and short-term situations. The first measure is typically framed and used in our
country, and the second one is used by most of the countries in the world. Based on the three
approaches used in the classification of activity statuses of the persons surveyed, four
different estimates of the employed can be generated. These estimates, instead of conflicting
each other, supplement the information content of each other. The estimate of employed (or
worker) according to the usual principal status gives the number of persons who worked for a
relatively long part of the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey. The
work force, considering both the usual principal status and the subsidiary status, includes the
persons who (a) either worked for a relatively longer part of the 365 days preceding the date
of survey and (b) also those persons from among the remaining population who had worked
some time during the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey. The work
force measured in terms of current weekly status gives the average picture of the work force
in a short period of one week during the survey period. The work force measured in terms of
20
current daily status gives the average picture of the person-days worked in a day during the
survey period.
The usual status approach identifies the activities (economic and non economic) in which a
person usually disposes himself/herself and it reflects the perennial activity situation of
population. Having long reference period of last 365 days as the reference period for
measurements, it fails to take into account the short-term fluctuations in the employment and
unemployment situation in the economy. The current weekly status approach and the current
daily status approach, on the other hand, can efficiently measure short-term fluctuations
owing to seasonality in the labour market. More important is that a cross examination of the
activity status of the population in respect of these three approaches, can throw light on the
extent of visible underemployment.
Collection of data in employment and unemployment surveys in none of the three
approaches can be dispensed with, since the data collected by the three distinct approaches
provide very useful information on the extent and nature of underemployment.
3.4 Information collected and Concepts followed in EUS of Labour Bureau
3.4.1 Apart from the quinquennial EUS, NSSO collected information on certain key items on
employment and unemployment from a smaller sample of households in each round since its
45th round (July 1989 - June 1990) through the schedule on Household Consumer
Expenditure (Schedule 1.0). These procedures continued till the 59th round (JanuaryDecember 2003) of NSSO. In the 60th round (January-June 2004), a separate schedule on
employment and unemployment was canvassed for the first time in an annual round and
particulars on employment and unemployment was collected in the same manner as that of
the quinquennial rounds. A separate schedule on employment and unemployment, similar to
the one canvassed in the 60th round, was also canvassed in the 62nd round (July 2005 - June
2006) and 64th round (July 2007- June 2008) of NSSO.
3.4.2 At present NSSO gives detailed data on employment and unemployment only through
the quinquennial EUS and annual survey on employment and unemployment of Ministry of
Labour & Employment gives annual data on labour and employment. The Survey, at present,
is being conducted in all the States/UTs by covering all the districts in the country. These
surveys supply estimates on Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population
Ratio (WPR) Unemployment Rate (UR) based on four different approaches as followed by
NSSO viz. usual principal status approach, usual principal & subsidiary status approach,
current weekly status approach & current daily status approach. The concepts and definitions
followed in EUS of Labour Bureau for identification of activity participation of the
individuals are similar to that of the EUS of NSSO.
3.5 Key Labour Force Indicators
21
The last quinquennial EUS of NSSO was conducted in NSS 68th round (July 2011 – June
2012). The second annual employment and unemployment survey of Labour Bureau had the
reference period from July, 2010 to June 2011 and was conducted during July, 2011 to
January, 2012 covering the entire country. In view of the situation that EUS of NSSO of 68th
round and second annual employment and unemployment survey of Labour Bureau has a
very close reference period and the results of population census 2011 are available, results of
some LF indicators at the all-India level obtained from the three sources are placed below:
3.5.1 Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR) all-India
major LF
data
source
(1)
persons of age: 15 years and above
approach
Male
Rural
Female
Male
Urban
Female
Person
(2)
(3)
(4)
NSSO
68th round
ps
ps+ss
cws
cds
805
813
801
785
Labour
Bureau
2nd EUS
ps
ps+ss
cws
cds
788
794
794
760
Person
Male
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
257
358
305
255
533
587
554
522
760
764
760
753
178
205
197
181
478
493
487
476
791
798
788
775
233
312
272
233
516
559
534
508
280
339
344
279
548
579
582
533
733
737
735
719
179
191
195
175
472
480
481
463
774
779
779
749
254
300
305
252
529
554
556
515
22
Combined
Female
Person
3.5.2
Worker Population Ratio (WPR)
Table 1
all-India
major LF
data
source
(1)
worker
persons of age: all
Male
Rural
Female
Person
Male
Urban
Female
Person
Male
Combined
Female
Person
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
Census
2011
main
all
416
530
167
300
295
418
487
538
119
154
309
353
438
533
152
255
299
398
NSSO
68th round
ps
ps+ss
535
543
176
248
359
399
542
546
125
147
342
355
537
544
161
219
354
386
Table 2
all-India
major LF approach
data
source
(1)
(2)
persons of age: 15 years and above
Combined
Person Male Female
Person
Male
Rural
Female
Person
Male
Urban
Female
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
NSSO
68th round
ps
ps+ss
cws
cds
788
800
775
743
250
352
294
240
521
578
536
493
735
741
731
716
167
195
183
166
459
476
466
450
772
781
761
734
225
305
261
218
502
547
515
480
Labour
Bureau
2nd EUS
ps
ps+ss
cws
cds
766
775
767
717
265
325
322
256
529
563
557
499
709
713
706
685
157
170
169
152
449
458
453
434
751
759
751
708
236
285
282
229
508
536
530
482
23
3.5.3 Unemployment Rate (UR)
all-India
major LF approach
data
source
(1)
(2)
persons of age: 15 years and above
Urban
Combined
Female Person Male Female
Person
Male
Rural
Female
Person
Male
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
NSSO
68th round
ps
ps+ss
cws
cds
21
17
33
55
27
16
35
63
23
17
33
56
32
30
38
49
67
53
68
77
38
34
44
55
24
21
34
53
39
23
42
64
27
21
36
55
Labour
Bureau
2nd EUS
ps
ps+ss
cws
cds
27
24
34
57
56
41
63
82
34
29
42
63
34
31
40
47
125
112
133
134
50
47
58
63
29
26
36
54
69
53
74
91
38
33
46
63
3.5.4 Changes in LFPR, WPR and UR in usual status (ps+ss) for persons of age 15+ over
the recent rounds of NSSO
all-India
Indicator
in
ps+ss
(1)
persons of age: 15 years and above
Male
Rural
Female
Person
(2)
55
61
66
68
(3)
855
859
825
813
(4)
457
494
378
358
WPR
55
61
66
68
841
846
812
800
UR
55
61
66
68
17
16
16
17
LFPR
NSS
Round
Male
Urban
Female
Combined
Female
Person
Person
Male
(5)
657
677
604
587
(6)
787
792
762
764
(7)
209
244
194
205
(8)
510
530
488
493
(9)
836
840
806
798
(10)
391
427
326
312
(11)
617
637
571
559
452
485
372
352
647
666
595
578
752
763
740
741
197
227
183
195
486
506
472
476
816
822
791
781
385
416
318
305
604
622
559
547
11
18
16
16
15
17
16
17
45
37
28
30
58
69
57
53
47
44
34
34
24
21
19
21
17
26
23
23
22
23
20
21
( Field work of NSS 55th, 61st, 66th and 68th rounds were conducted respectively during July 1999 – June 2000,
July 2004 – June 2009, July 2009 – June 2010 and July 2011 – June 2012.)
24
3.5.5 Changes in distribution of usual status (ps+ss) workers of age 15+ by status in
employment over the recent rounds of NSSO
all-India
Category of
employment
(1)
Self employed
Regular
Wage/Salaried
persons of age: 15 years and above
NSS
Round
(2)
61
66
68
61
66
68
Male
(3)
Rural
Female
(4)
Person
(5)
Male
(6)
Urban
Female
(7)
Person
(8)
Male
(9)
Combined
Female Person
(10)
(11)
58.0
53.3
54.4
63.6
55.4
59.1
60.0
54.0
55.8
44.8
41.1
41.8
47.2
40.8
42.7
45.3
41.0
42.0
54.6
49.9
50.7
61.2
53.0
56.0
56.8
50.8
52.2
9.1
8.6
10.1
3.8
4.4
5.7
7.1
7.3
8.7
40.7
41.9
43.5
36.0
39.6
43.0
39.7
41.5
43.4
17.3
17.8
19.9
8.4
10.2
12.8
14.4
15.7
17.9
61
32.9
32.7
32.8
14.5
16.8
15.0
28.1
30.4
66
38.1
40.1
38.7
17.0
19.6
17.5
32.2
36.8
Casual Labour
68
35.5
35.2
35.4
14.7
14.3
14.7
29.4
31.2
st
th
th
(NSS 61 Round: July 2004 – June 2005; 66 Round: July 2009 – June 2010; 68 Round: July 2011 – June 2012)
28.9
33.5
29.9
3.5.6 Changes in distribution of usual status (ps+ss) workers of age 15+ by broad industry
over the recent rounds of NSSO
all-India
Sector of work
(1)
Primary
Secondary
persons of age: 15 years and above
NSS
Round
(2)
61
66
68
61
66
68
Male
(3)
Rural
Female
(4)
Person
(5)
Male
(6)
Urban
Female
(7)
Person
(8)
Male
(9)
Combined
Female
Person
(10)
(11)
66.3
62.7
59.3
83.3
79.3
75.0
72.5
67.7
64.0
6.2
5.9
5.7
18.1
13.7
10.8
8.7
7.4
6.7
50.6
47.0
43.7
74.0
68.6
62.6
58.4
53.0
48.8
15.7
19.3
22.0
9.9
12.9
16.8
13.7
17.3
20.4
34.5
34.7
35.1
31.7
33.3
33.8
33.8
34.3
34.9
20.6
23.6
25.9
13.2
16.4
20.0
18.2
21.6
24.1
61
18.0
6.6
13.8
59.4
50.2
57.5
28.8
13.0
66
18.0
7.8
14.8
59.3
53.0
58.1
29.5
15.1
Tertiary
68
18.8
8.5
15.6
59.4
55.4
58.4
30.6
17.4
(NSS 61st Round: July 2004 – June 2005; 66th Round: July 2009 – June 2010; 68th Round: July 2011 – June 2012)
25
23.6
25.4
26.9
3.5.7 It may be observed from the above tables that, for persons of all ages, WPRs for
females in Census 2011 are higher than those of EUS of NSS 68th round while WPRs for
males are higher in EUS 68th round than those of Census 2011. For persons of age 15 years
and above, the WPRs in usual status (ps+ss) are higher in EUS of NSSO as compared to
those of EUS of Labour Bureau and the unemployment rates (UR) are in general higher in
EUS of Labour Bureau than those of EUS of NSS 68th round. It may also be observed that
the difference in the estimates of WPRs in usual status (ps+ss) and CWS in EUS of Labour
Bureau is considerably less as compared to that of EUS of NSSO indicating that estimates of
visible under employment is negligible in EUS of Labour Bureau as compared to that of
EUS of NSSO. As survey period of Labour Bureau is less than one year, estimates of LF
indicators in CWS and CDS may be subjected to seasonality. A comparison in the
distribution of workers by status in employment over the rounds shows a rising trend in the
overall percentage of regular wage/salaried employees over the seven-year period.
Percentage of casual labour however increased during the first five-year period but declined
during the subsequent period of two years. Over the period of seven years, the percentage
share of primary sector in total number of workers shows a declining trend while the
percentage shares of both secondary and tertiary sectors show a rising trend.
4. Data Gap in Labour Force Statistics in India:
4.1 As compared to the census conducted by Registrar General and Census Commissioner of
India and the annual survey on Employment and Unemployment conducted by Ministry of
Labour & Employment, particulars on labour and employment are collected in more details
in the quinquennial EUS of NSSO. However, neither EUS of NSSO nor any other sources,
can meet the pressing demand of data on hours worked; earnings of self-employed;
particulars of contract labour, bonded labour; particulars of persons employed in private
households like maid servant, watchman, driver etc.; and adequate data on skill gaps, social
security for the country as a whole. At present data on labour and employment are available
for the entire country either annually or quinquennially. There is also need for comprehensive
data on labour and employment and its correlates at more frequent intervals. At present,
adequate data on labour and employment are not available from any sources to generate
statistics on emerging issues like (i) Child labour, (ii) Decent work, (iii) Green job etc.
5. Issues and new initiatives
5.1 Ensuring Time Series Data
Availability of time series data on LF characteristics is a basic need. Apart from the use of
current data for policy formulation, time series data is also useful for analysing the labour
market trend to assess the real scenario. The NSSO provides a time series data on
employment and unemployment characteristics starting from its 27th round. The results of
NSS 66th round showed a considerable decline in the WPR of female and also in the
aggregate of female workforce as compared to the previous survey of NSS 61st round. The
26
results of NSS 66th round showed very little growth in employment (only 2.3 million)
between NSS 61st round and NSS 66th round as against the massive growth in employment
(60 million) between NSS 55th round and NSS 61st round. This incident evoked reactions
from many social scientists. The real issue was whether such a decline particularly in the
aggregate number was plausible or not. To answer to such questions it may be more
appropriate to look at the data for longer duration.
Worker Participation Rate (WPR) and number of workers in usual status (ps+ss)
NSS
round
survey period
WPR (ps+ss)
rural
rural
male
female
urban
male
urban
female
( October 1972 545
318
501
134
September 1973)
32*
(July1977-June78)
552
331
508
125
38*
1983
547
340
512
151
43*
(July1987-June88)
539
323
506
152
45
July 89 – June, 90
548
319
512
146
46
(July1990-June91)
553
292
513
143
47
July-Dec,1991
546
294
516
132
48
Jan – Dec, 1992
556
313
507
146
49
Jan-June 1993
545
311
509
130
50*
(July1993-June94)
553
328
521
155
51
July94-June95
560
317
519
136
52
(July’95-June’96)
551
295
525
124
53
(Jan-Dec.’97)
550
291
521
131
54
(Jan-June’98)
539
263
509
114
55*
(July’99-June’00)
531
299
518
139
56
(July’00-June’01)
544
287
531
140
57
(July’01-June’02)
546
314
553
139
58
(July - Dec’02)
546
281
534
140
59
(Jan - Dec’03)
547
311
541
146
60
(Jan. - June’04)
542
315
540
150
61*
(July’2004-June’05) 546
327
549
166
62
(July’2005-June’06) 549
310
540
143
64
(July,2007-June,08)
548
289
554
138
66*
(July’2009-June’10) 547
261
543
138
*: Quinquennial surveys of NSSO on Employment and Unemployment.
27*
number of workers (in millions)
rural
rural
urban
urban
male
female
male
female
126.5
70.0
31.3
7.2
140.1
153.9
164.8
173.0
177.4
177.1
182.8
181.4
187.7
193.5
192.0
196.8
195.5
198.6
207.1
210.7
212.1
215.2
215.3
218.9
222.7
227.4
232.3
79.8
90.7
93.1
94.9
88.2
89.8
96.9
97.4
104.7
103.1
96.8
98.2
90.0
105.7
103.3
114.6
103.2
115.7
118.3
124.0
118.9
113.4
104.8
38.2
46.7
52.9
56.4
58.0
59.4
59.7
61.1
64.6
66.3
68.0
70.5
70.4
75.4
79.6
84.9
83.0
86.1
87.4
90.4
91.0
97.6
100.2
10.2
12.1
14.1
14.3
14.4
13.5
15.3
13.9
17.2
15.6
14.4
15.9
14.2
18.2
18.9
19.2
19.6
20.9
21.9
24.6
21.7
21.9
22.9
Above table shows that starting from 27th round, employment of males, both in rural and
urban areas, has increased steadily till 66th round but reduction in employment of females,
particularly for rural females, has taken place in several occasions. From 105.7 million
female workers in rural areas in 55th round, the number reached to the level of 124.0 million
in 61st round through consistent growth in 57th round (114.6 million), 59th round (115.7
million) and 60th round (118.3 million). After 61st round, number of female workers in rural
areas started declining – from 124.0 million in 61st round to 118.9 million in 62nd round,
27
113.4 million in 64th round and 104.8 million in 66th round. From 18.2 million of female
workers in urban areas in 55th round, the number reached to the level of 24.6 million in 61st
round through consistent growth over 56th to 60th rounds and thereafter, it was in between
21.7 million to 22.9 million between 62nd round and 66th round. Therefore, survey results of
NSSO show that reduction in employment of females happened in 66th round, as compared to
that of 61st round, was not a sudden event. Availability of time series data, facilitate for such
post survey studies.
Apart from the nine quinquennial surveys, NSSO was regularly collecting data on key items
of labour and employment through the schedule on household consumer expenditure
(Schedule 1.0) from 45th round (July 1989 - June 1990) till 59th round (January-December
2003) of NSSO. A separate schedule on employment and unemployment was canvassed in
60th (January-June 2004), 62nd (July 2005 - June 2006) and 64th (July 2007- June 2008)
rounds of NSSO and this system of collecting annual data on employment and
unemployment discontinued from NSS 65th round (July 2008- June 2009). There is demand
for dissemination of annual data on labour and employment. Labour Bureau is conducting
annual EUS with same concepts as adopted in NSSO, but the data collection mechanism of
the two are not the same. The estimates obtained from two survey instruments are likely to
have some divergence. In view of this, possibility of supplying annual data on labour market
may be explored. If PLFS is implemented in full fledge, annual estimates on labour and
employment may be generated from there.
5.2 Reliable estimates of LF indicators at State and Sub-state Level
The EUS of NSSO shows that the RSE of the estimates of WPR and PU at the all-India level
are considerable. But for the smaller states and UTs, in many cases, the RSE of the estimates
of LFPR and WPR are high. The RSE of PU/UR is sometimes very high even for major
states. If these estimates are considered at further disaggregated level, say WPR at level of
tabulation categories as required by NAD or UR of the educated youth at the state/sub-state
level, the estimates will further suffer from credibility. This is mainly due to allocation of
smaller sample size to such states/UTs. For decentralized planning, credible statistics is
required at the state and sub-state levels. To achieve this goal, it may be explored to what
extent the sample design and survey schedule can be modified.
The quinquennial EUS conducted by the NSSO (‘central sample’) has a parallel matching
sample at the state level (known as ‘state sample’). The divergences in the central sample
estimate and state sample estimates may be assessed and possibility of pooling these two sets
of estimates may be explored for generating improved estimates at the state and sub-state
level.
5.3 Convergence in Concepts and Definitions followed by Different Agencies
Different agencies collect data on labour force for the different sectors of the economy or for
the different segments of the population. There may be some divergence in the coverage,
28
concepts and methods adopted by the different agencies, yet data available from different
sources may be used for cross validation. Also, studies may be undertaken to take remedial
measures to minimize the divergences among different data sets. At present, data on
employment and unemployment for the entire country are collected through census or by
household surveys of NSSO and Labour Bureau. It may be explored whether the concepts
and data collection mechanism of these agencies can be made consistent so that data
available from these sources on various periodicities can supplement each other to form a
reasonable time series data.
5.4 Meeting Demand of Quarterly data on Labour Market
For quick response to the emergent situation in the labour market, there is need for quarterly
data on labour and employment. Also to meet the requirements of Special Data
Dissemination Standards (SDDS) of the IMF, quarterly estimates of labour force are
required. The quarterly estimates of workforce at the level of tabulation category are also
valuable inputs for NAD. Considering the need for labour force statistics at more frequent
time interval and to measure the changes in the indicators in short interval, the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOS&PI), on the recommendation of the
National Statistical Commission (NSC), constituted a Committee on Periodic Labour Force
Survey (PLFS). The Committee recommended for collection of data to measure Worker
Population Ratio (WPR), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Unemployment Rate
(UR) by Current weekly status (CWS) approach in each quarter of a year and their changes
between successive quarters and also for collection of data on labour remuneration for the
categories of workers ‘self-employed’, ‘regular wage/salaried employees’ and ‘casual
labour’. The Committee recommended for rotational sampling scheme for the survey. A pilot
on Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in urban areas of three states of Himachal Pradesh,
Odisha and Gujarat has been conducted by NSSO. If PLFS is implemented in full-fledge in
rural and urban, quarterly data on labour and employment for the entire country will be
available to the users for policy decision.
5.5 Expanding the coverage of economic activity
At present detailed information on work activities which fall within the production boundary
of ISNA are collected in the EUS of NSSO. The full spectrum of economic activities as
defined in the UN system of National Accounts is not covered in Employment and
Unemployment survey of NSSO. Although production of any goods/services for own
consumption is considered as economic activity by UN System of National Accounts,
production of only primary goods for own consumption is considered as economic activity
by NSSO. While the former considers activities like own account processing of primary
products as economic activities, in the NSS surveys, processing of primary products for own
consumption is not considered as economic activity. Possibility of expanding the production
boundary of the EUS of NSSO may be explored.
29
5.6 Meeting Demand for Data on Emerging Issues
5.6.1 Data on contract labour: A contract labour is a workman who is hired in connection
with the work of an establishment by or through a contractor. The system of employing
contract labour is prevalent in almost all the industries. Contract Labour is now a significant
and growing form of employment in public sector as well as in the private sector. So far, data
on number of contract labour are available only for the registered manufacturing units from
the Annual survey of Industries (ASI). To fill up the data gap on contract labour, Ministry of
Labour and Employment requested NSC to see the possibility of undertaking a survey on
contract labour. On the recommendations of the NSC, a WG on contract labour was formed
by NSSO to suggest the methodology of the survey. The Working Group recommended that
for the present, an independent household survey on contract labour may be undertaken by
NSSO to collected particulars of contract labour but, in future, information on contract labour
may be collected as part of the quinquinnial surveys on Employment and Unemployment
through a special module on contract labour in the survey schedule. As per the
recommendation of WG, the coverage of the contract labour will not be restricted only to that
contract labour who are employed in establishments but will be extended to
households/housing societies/ co-operative societies/ trust/other non-profit institutions etc.
The Working Group also recommended that a pilot survey in a few states may be conducted
before taking up the independent survey on contract labour for the country as a whole. In
order to implement survey on contract labour for the country as a whole, pilot survey on
contract labour may be initiated and the results can be analysed for taking appropriate
measure for the full-fledged survey.
5.6.2 Data on hours worked: Data on hours worked is required to measure time related
work condition, underemployment. As per the resolution of ICLS, ‘hours worked’ by the
employed is one indicator of measuring decent work. So far, no household survey provides
data on this aspect for the country as a whole. The NSC committee on PLFS has
recommended for collection of data on ‘actual hours worked’ in the PLFS schedule, for the
days of the reference week when a person actually works. Full-fledged implementation of
PLFS may resolve the issue of data gap on ‘hours worked’.
5.6.3 Data on earnings of self-employed: Data on earnings of the workers is necessary to
assess the quality of employment. The EUS of NSSO as well that of Labour Bureau provides
data on wage/salary earnings of the employees. But data on earnings of the self-employed are
collected neither by NSSO nor by Labour Bureau. As decided by the NSC committee on
PLFS, there is provision in the PLFS schedule to collect data on earnings of the selfemployed. Self-employed persons run the household enterprises on their own account or with
one or a few partners, with or without hiring labour. In PLFS (Pilot), net earnings of the selfemployed were obtained by deducting total expenses of the enterprise from the gross output.
If the owners of the enterprise were from the same household, earning was judged by
30
considering equal distribution of income among all the owners. If the owners of the
enterprise were from the different households, earnings from the partnership business was
distributed, according to the agreement (verbal or written), among the partner households.
For helpers in household enterprises, earning was considered as zero (0). Full-fledged
implementation of PLFS may fill up the data gap on earnings of the self-employed with the
concept of net earnings as stated. Full-fledged implementation of PLFS is expected not only
to provide data on wages/earnings of different categories of workers but also data on
variations in wage market over short intervals. Possibility of collecting data on earnings of
self-employed in EUS of NSSO/Labour Bureau may also be explored.
5.6.4 Data on persons employed in private households: There is demand for detail
particulars for persons employed in private households like maid servant, watchman, driver
etc. Information on number of such persons is available from the EUS of NSSO. In order to
collect elaborate information with respect to their condition of work, security in work,
problem faced at the work place etc., possibility of including a separate module in EUS may
be explored.
5.6.5 Data on Skill Gap and Vocational Training: There is demand from the government
and other users for data on skill gap and need of vocational training for persons of different
age-group, educational level and employment backgrounds. Data on ‘vocational training
received’ and ‘field of training’ are collected in quinquennial EUS of NSSO. In some of the
previous rounds of NSSO, data on skill was collected but has been discontinued at present.
Suitability of collecting information on skill gap and details on vocational training in the
existing EUS of NSSO/Labour Bureau may be explored.
5.6.6 Data for Evaluation of Work Generating Programmes of the Central/State
Governments: There is demand from the Central/ Sate Governments for relevant data for
evaluation of the specific work generation programmes of the Central/ Sate Governments. On
the request of Ministry of Rural Development, first exercise on this aspect was undertaken by
NSSO through a panel survey on MGNREGA for the three states Andhra Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan during July 2009 – June 2011. NSSO may explore the possibility of
conducting similar surveys for evaluation of different work generating programmes of the
Central/State Governments.
5.6.7 Measurement of Organised Sector Employment through EUS: There is demand for
measuring employment in organized and unorganized sectors separately. The existing EUS
can not give adequate information to segregate total employment in organized and
unorganized sectors. Possibility may be explored in the existing EUS of NSSO/Labour
Bureau to collect additional information so that employment in the organized and
unorganized sectors can separately be identified.
5.6.8 Demand for data in absolute numbers: Users very often seek estimates of
employment and unemployment in absolute numbers. In the NSS reports LF indicators are
disseminated in the form of ratios. Census projected population for the mid-point of the
31
survey period using compound growth formula are also given in the reports. Absolute
numbers derived from this crude projection may not serve the purpose of the users. If
projected population is available from RGI at the mid-point of the survey period, estimates of
employment and unemployment in absolute numbers may be obtained from EUS of
NSSO/Labour Bureau.
5.6.9 Data on child labour: There is demand for data on child labour for a long time. The
term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their
potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers
to works which are mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to
children; and interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend
school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine
school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
In its most extreme forms, child labour involves children being enslaved, separated from
their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on
the streets of large cities - often at a very early age. Work that jeopardises the physical,
mental or moral well-being of a child, either because of its nature or because of the
conditions in which it is carried out, is known as “hazardous work”. Whether or not
particular form of “work” can be called “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type
and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives
pursued by individual countries. The answer varies from country to country, as well as
among sectors within countries. The worst forms of child labour are (a) all forms of slavery
or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and
serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of
children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for
prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the
use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and
trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its
nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or
morales of children.
In order to fill up the data gap on child labour, it may now be necessary to explore whether a
separate household survey on child labour may be taken up or information on child labour
may be collected through one or two modules of EUS of NSSO or Labour Bureau by suitably
modifying the sampling design. An expert group may take up the issues relevant for filling
up the data gap on child labour.
5.6.10 Data on decent work: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) describes decent
work as “opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in
conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity”. Although the relative importance
of specific aspects of decent work varies from country to country and from person to person,
the concept and the basic elements of decent work are universal.
32
The definition of decent work explicitly includes six dimensions viz. (a) Opportunities for
work refer to the need for all persons who want work to be able to find work, since decent
work is not possible without work itself, (b) Freedom in work refers that work should be
freely chosen and not enforced on individuals. It means that bonded labour and slave labour
as well as unacceptable forms of child labour should be eliminated (c) Productive work is
essential for workers to have acceptable livelihoods for themselves and their families, as well
as to ensure sustainable development and competitiveness of enterprises and countries, (d)
Equity in work represents workers’ need to have fair and equitable treatment and opportunity
in work, (e) Security at work underscores protection of health, pensions and livelihoods, and
to provide adequate financial and other protection in the event of health and other
contingencies, and (f) Dignity at work requires that workers be treated with respect at work,
and be able to voice concerns and participate in decision-making about working conditions.
The indicators that summarize key aspects of the economic and social context of decent work
are:
1. Employment opportunities
2. Unacceptable work
3. Adequate earnings and productive work
4. Decent hours
5. Stability and security of work
6. Combining work and family life
7. Fair treatment in employment
8. Safe work environment
9. Social protection
10. Social dialogue and workplace relations
11. Economic and social context of decent work
Considering that a wide range of information is to be collected for measuring decent work,
instead of overloading the usual employment and unemployment schedule, possibility of
conducting an independent survey on Decent Work may be explored. An expert group may
be required for taking decision on the methodology of the survey on Decent Work.
5.6.11 Data on green job: Another emerging issue on labour and employment is the
measurement of green job. As per the concept of ILO, the green job summarizes the
transformation of economies, workplaces, enterprises and labour markets into a low-carbon,
sustainable economy that provides decent employment opportunities for all. The green job
may broadly be defined as a decent job that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality
of the environment whether it is in agriculture, industry, services or administration. More
precisely green jobs are decent jobs that (a) Reduce consumption of energy and raw
materials, (b) Limit greenhouse gas emissions, (c) Minimize waste and pollution, and (d)
Protect and restore ecosystems.
An expert group may look into the feasibility of collecting data on green job through a
survey.
33
TRENDS IN LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN ODISHAA Comparative Analysis
Paper by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Odisha
ECONOMIC GROWTH OF ODISHA
The economic growth of Odisha witnessed fluctuating trend from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12 as indicated in table‐1 below . During 1983‐84, GSDP grew at highest with 18.4 percent , while it was declined in 1987‐88 with a negative growth of 2.77 percent. Thereafter till 2004‐05, the GSDP growth had a increasing trend , where as it declined to 4.55 percent in 2009‐10. During 2011‐12, the growth was marginally increased to 4.92 percent. The average growth of GSDP from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12 was 8.63 percent. The resulted NSDP_ Percapita growth was 7.78 percent in 1972‐73 and it came down to 1.08 percent in 2011‐12. The average NSDP_Percapita growth from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12 was 7.46 percent. TABLE-1-ECONOMIC GROWTH OF ODISHA
Year GSDP_growth .1972‐73 1977‐78 1983 1987‐88 1993‐94 1999‐2000 2004‐05 2009‐10 2011‐12 NSDP__Percapita_growth 9.1
14.77
18.4
‐2.77
7.35
8.59
12.81
4.55
4.92
Source‐ DE&S, Odisha 7.78 14.29 18.21 ‐5.11 6.05 15.22 10.11 ‐0.51 1.08 LABOUR FORCE
Labour force refers to the population which supplies or offers to supply labour for pursuing economic activities for production of goods & services It thus, includes, the sum of the number of persons employed and 34
the number of unemployed.
Labour force participation rate ( LFPR) is a measure of the proportion of a country’s labour force to the total persons. The breakdown of the labour force by sex and age group gives a profile of the distribution of the economically active population within a country. The indicator for labour force participation rate plays a central role in the study of the factors that determine the size and composition of a country’s human resources and in making projections of the future supply of labour. The information is also used to formulate employment policies, to determine training needs and to calculate the expected working lives of the male and female populations and the rates of accession to, and retirement from, economic activity – crucial information for the financial planning of social security systems. LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION BY REGION
Table‐2 below gives detail picture of LFPR in Odisha from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12. The LFPR for rural area was varying from 36.3 percent to 50.1 percent. The participation rate was highest during 1983 with 50.1 percent , but it tend to decline in 1987‐88 with 43.2 percent. During 2004‐05, the rate was increased to 47.6 percent and thereafter it again declined to 42.3 percent in 2009‐10, although it surged up to 42.7 percent in 2011‐12 with an increase of 0.4 percentage point from the level of 2009‐10. Table-2- LFPR of Odisha from 1972-73 to 2011-12
Year
Odisha
Rural
Female
Male
Urban
Person
Male
Female
Person
3
4
5
6
7
8
1972-73
570
160
363
580
140
375
1977-78
661
321
491
604
162
383
1983
670
336
501
602
136
380
1987-88
579
286
432
524
136
330
1993-94
577
319
448
544
160
365
1999-2000
564
302
432
511
153
339
2004-05
604
351
476
553
202
386
2009-10
596
249
423
592
126
365
2011-12
606
251
427
603
158
395
56.88
17.63
% Change(1972-73
to 2011-12)
6.32
3.97
12.86
Source‐ NSSO
35
5.33
The LFPR for urban areas varied from 33.0 percent to 39.5 percent from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12. The lowest participation rate was observed in 1987‐88, where as it was highest with 39.5 percent in 2011‐12. Between 2009‐10 to 2011‐12, participation rate showed a sharp increase of 3.0 percentage points. The trends of participation rate for rural & urban area for Odisha & India are presented in Graph‐1 & 2 GRAPH-1 : TRENDS IN LFPR FOR ODISHA
600 500 400 300 200 100 0 rural urban GRAPH-2 :
TRENDS IN LFPR FOR INDIA BY REGION
600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 rural urban
36
Thus over all, it could be said that the trends of LFPR in rural area for Odisha & India were heavily fluctuating. In case of urban area, the participation rate was showing fluctuating trend in Odisha, but the rate for urban India remained stagnant from 1987‐88 to 1999‐2000. When it looked at growth of LFPR by region year over year through graph‐3, it was observed that urban Odisha had a high variation compared to rural Odisha /India & urban India. GRAPH-3 : YEAR OVER YEAR GROWTH OF LFPR BY REGION
40.00 30.00 20.00 rura_odisha urban_odisha 10.00 rural_india urban_india
0.00 ‐10.00 ‐20.00 The percentage growth in LFPR in rural Odisha from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12 had witnessed highest growth of 17.63% compared to urban Odisha with 5.33%. In case of rural India, the growth was declined to 6.88 percent, where as the corresponding figure for urban India was 9.88 percent. LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION
BY SEX
Analysis of trend of LFPR by sex indicates that female had a significantly lower participation rate than for males in rural & urban Odisha. The LFPR for male was 57.0 percent in 1972‐73 & it rose to 60.6 in 2011‐12 with a growth of 3.6 percentage point . While in Urban Odisha, it was 60.3 percent in 2011‐12. LFPR for female in 1972‐73 was 16.0 percent for rural Odisha & it moved to 25.1 percent in 2011‐12, which accounted for growth of 9.1 percentage point. The corresponding growth in urban Odisha was 2.0 percentage point .
37
GRAPH- 4: LFPR BY SEX_ RURAL ODISHA
800 700 600 500 400 Male 300 Female
200 2011‐ 12 2009‐ 10 2004‐ 05 1999‐ 00 1993‐ 94 1987‐ 88 1983‐ 84 1977‐ 78 0 1972‐ 73 100 GRAPH-5: LFPR BY SEX _ URBAN ODISHA
700 600 500
400 300 Male 200 Female
100 2011‐12 2009‐10 2004‐05 1999‐00 1993‐94 1987‐88 1983‐84 1977‐78 1972‐73 0 The striking feature of LFPR by sex was that both male & female LFPR for rural Odisha was shrinking in 2009‐10, while female LFPR for urban Odisha was declined in 2009‐10 compared to 2004‐05 . However during 2011‐12, both female & male LFPR had increased marginally over 2009‐10. In case of all India average, there was a reverse picture , which showed that rural LFPR for male & female was declined in 2011‐12 over 2009‐10 , whereas, the corresponding figure for urban India by sex was increased over 2009‐10.
38
The graph‐6 & 7 below describes correlation between male‐female labour force by region of Odisha GRAPH-6: CORRELATION (LFPR RURAL MALE_FEMALE), ODISHA
400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 540 560 580 600 620 640 660 680 GRAPH-7: CORRELATION ( LFPR URBAN MALE_FEMALE), ODISHA
250 200 150 100 50 0 500 520 540 560 580 600 620 In case of male & female participation in labour force in rural odisha, there is an evidence of positive correlation between female & male participation rate (Graph‐6). But in urban Odisha, there is a negative correlation between male & female participation rate in labour force (Graph‐7). 39
GENDER GAP IN LFPR BY REGION
The table below presents gender gap in LFPR by region of Odisha & India TABLE-3: GENDER GAP IN LFPR FOR ODISHA & INDIA BY REGION
Year
1972-73
1977-78
1983-84
1987-88
1993-94
1999-00
2004-05
2009-10
2011-12
Odisha
Rural
Urban
41
44
34
44.2
33.4
46.6
29.3
38.8
25.8
38.4
26.2
35.8
25.3
35.1
34.7
46.6
35.5
44.5
India
Rural
Urban
23.1
38.2
25.6
40.5
24.7
43.1
21.8
37.2
23
37.8
23.8
39.5
22.2
39.2
29.1
41.3
30
40.8
It is found that the gender gap in LFPR for rural Odisha varied from 25.8 to 41 from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12 . At the same time, the gender gap in LFPR for rural India fluctuated from 21.8 to 30.0 , which is lower compared to Odisha. The gender gap in LFPR for urban Odisha varied from 35.1 to 46.6 , while urban India witnessed variation from 37.2 to 43.1 from 1972‐73 to 2011‐12. WORKER POPULATION RATIO (WPR) AND UNEMPLOYMENT RATE(UR)
A vital labor force is an asset, but when its proportion is too high relative to the rest of the population, worker population ratio may be lower and unemployment become a risk. Innovative governments and societies can mitigate that risk by fostering sustainable jobs that offer good wages and working conditions. This is easier to accomplish where rights‐based population policies encourage balanced age distributions, and where sound health and education policies improve 40
employment potential.
The Graph ‐8 and 9 below gives trend between LFPR, WPR & UR in rural‐ urban Odisha GRAPH‐8 : RURAL ODISHA 600 500
400 300 LFPR 200 WPR 100 UR
0 GRAPH-9 : URBAN ODISHA
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 LFPR WPR UR
From the above graph, it is observed that in urban Odisha, the unemployment rate was higher compared to rural Odisha. The comparative picture of un employment rate in Odisha & India by region is presented in graph‐10 & 11. The un‐employment rate in rural Odisha was 1.5 percent in 1972‐73, while the corresponding figure for India was 0.9 percent. During 2011‐12, the rate for Odisha was increased to 2.3 percent as against 41
1.8 percent for India.
The urban Odisha had a rising un‐employment rate compared to national average from 1987‐88 to 2009‐10, although the rate was identical during 2011‐12 with 3.6 percent. GRAPH-10: UR BY RURAL ODISHA & INDIA
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1972‐731977‐781983‐841987‐881993‐941999‐002004‐052009‐102011‐12 rural_Odisha rural_india GRAPH-11: UR BY
URBAN ODISHA & INDIA
160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1972‐73 1977‐78 1983‐84 1987‐88 1993‐94 1999‐00 2004‐05 2009‐10 2011‐12
urban_odisha urban_india The un‐employment rate by sex in Odisha is presented in graph ‐12. It is observed that rate in urban male & female was much higher than rural male & female. During 2004‐05, unemployment rate for urban female was highest with 26.6 percent in 2004‐05. But it declined to 1.9 percent in 2011‐12. At the same time, rural Odisha had witnessed higher female unemployment rate with 2.1.
42
GRAPH-12: UR BY SEX AND REGION
IN ODISHA
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1972‐73 1977‐78 1983‐84 1987‐88 1993‐94 1999‐00 2004‐05 2009‐10 2011‐12 rural_male rural_female urban_male urban_female CONCLUSION
The analysis gives detail picture on movement of LFPR and Un employment rate in Odisha with a national comparison. It is evident from the analysis that LFPR in rural Odisha was higher compared to urban Odisha. Although during 2009‐10, the rate was declined , it started moving up‐ward in 2011‐12 by sex & region. But in cae of all India average, the female participation in rural India had declined in 2011‐12 compared to 2009‐10. Ref: Report of NSSO, Govt of India from 27th round to 68th round
43
LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS
Paper by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Kerala
Labour and Employment Statistics are very essential for the Industrial prosperity and social
welfare of a country. The main sources of data on Labour and Employment Statistics are:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Population Census
Economic Census
Employment – Unemployment Surveys
Thozhil Bhavan
Department of Factories Boilers
Directorate of Employment
Migration Surveys
The data relating to labour and employment are available once in ten years based on population
Census.These statistics provide a state picture of
employment in the economy the details of
quality of employment and annual change in employment situation are not available.
The economic census provides estimation of employment in all types of enterprises almost
once in five years. This census however, does not carry wage labour in the house hold sector.
Moreover, there are who problems of coverage and under reporting in economic census.
Employment – Unemployment surveys being under taken by the National Sample Survey
Organization. It provides estimation of employment at the National and State level. Even
District level estimation can be derived by pooling Central and State level estimation. In
particular, labour force participation rates, worker participation rates, unemployment rates,
under employment rates, sector wise employment share, availability of social security etc. are
available though the surveys. But these surveys are under taken along with the surveys relating
to other ‘subjects’ with less number of sample house holds. Two surveys of unorganized
manufacturing and unorganized service sectors of NSSO provide estimation of employment in
those sectors. The Directorate of Economics & Statistics however, does not have any
mechanism to take advantage of these surveys and derive realistic estimation of employment
and unemployment on a regular basis. NSSO provides estimation of employment and
unemployment based on those concepts namely usual status, current weekly status, and current
daily status which are very helpful for policy decisions.
Statistics relating to employment labour disputes, man days lost due to labour unrest,
minimum wages are being collected by the Thozhil Bhavan under various labour acts. There
are weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual reports on different aspects
of labour situation being prepared by the Thozhil Bhavan. The registration under the shops and
establishment acts is now being computerized and provision for web based data submission has
been incorporated.
44 The Directorate of Factories and Boilers collets data on organized sector employment
submitted by the industrial establishments on an annual basis. The details relating to
employment, house of work, maternity benefits etc. contained in the returns are entered in the
computer in Directorate of Economics and Statistics and aggregated to obtain annual estimation.
The return are however, not available from a large number of factories and this leads to
considerable time lag in the production of annual aggregates. The list of factors maintained by
the Factories and Boilers Department include even closed and non working units as those are
often not deregistered. The Directorate of Economics and Statistics has no direct control to the
industrial establishments for the availability of reports in time to avoid the time lag. Moreover,
small units were not submitting returns of requested. The Directorate Factories & Boilers is now
in the process of computerizing the registration records and online licensing and refiling of
return are envisaged under the programme.
The Directorate of Employment as per the direction of the Director General of Employment
and Training in the union ministry of Labour & training collects statistics of employment under
its Employment Market Information (EMI) programme. Under the programme data on
employment are being collected on quarterly basis from establishments employing 25 workers
or more on a statutory basis and those employing 10 to 24 workers on a voluntary basis by each
of the local employment and self employment guidance centre in the State. The data sets
available though this source suffers from (1) incomplete list of establishments (2) non response
even from establishment compulsorily required to submit employment return and (3) delays in
processing. Even though, the Directorate of Employment has to handle a very large quantum of
data on employment, it is to note that there is no statistical mechanism and no statistical
personnel working in the department to collect, compile and disseminate the available data on a
scientific manner. Labour bureau, Government of India is conducting the employment and
unemployment survey in this State and department is participating this Survey for conducting
the field work of the survey. Reports of this survey are published by the labour bureau
annually.
The Government has to undertake a number of migration surveys since 1998 & 99 to
understand various aspects of migrants from Kerala working in different parts of India and
foreign countries. As per the direction of the State Government, department has undertaken
Migration Census in this State during 2013. The data entry of the schedule is made through
online by the District Offices of department of Economics & Statistics. Census Report is
already published by the NORKA department in the State. `
Various aspects of labour and employment are being captured by the DES by the different
sources,it has not been able to integrate the data sets and provide a comprehensive picture to
facilitate labour force planning. The strategies proposed in this regard are:
(i) Complete the system of online registration and web enabled reporting of labour statistics
initiated by the office of the Labour Commissioner as expeditiously as possible. Also make
arrangements to share the data sets with the DES ,
(ii) The computerisation process of Directorate of Factories and Boilers also needs to be
completed and data sharing with DES has to become effective and timely,
45 (iii)Undertake tabulation of employment and unemployment survey on priority basis and
generate population adjusted estimates of labour force, work force and unemployed to assess
the overall employment situation and
(iv) Ensure complete registration of migrant workers in the State by the Labour Departments and
share the data sets with the DES
(v) Evolve suitable methodology for estimating Educated Un-Employed in this State at annual
basis.
(vi) A suitable methodology may be attempted by DES for generating Estimates of employment
and unemployment, quarterly or at least on an Annual basis in future to help Government in
taking policy decisions
(vii)
Kerala has a peculiar Labour Market situation and this also needs special study to
understand all ramifications of our Labour Market conditions. Such imitative s would help
make the SDP/DDP estimates on a sound footing.
46 LABOUR AND UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS.
Paper by Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Assam
In our country the main sources of data on employment and Unemployment are (1) S.E.
Survey of NSSO (2) Economic Census (3) Employment Market Information Programme of
DGEI (4) Registrar General of India and (5) Labour Bureau. The Honourable President of
India on 4th June 2009 laid down various measures to be taken up by the Union Govt. Among
the various measures, one was the need of Employment-Unemployment data at a shorter
interval of time and hence the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt of India entrusted
the Labour Bureau the task of conducting Survey on Employment-Unemployment on Annual
basis. Then after, 3(three) consecutive Annual Survey on Employment and Unemployment
Survey was conducted by the Labour Bureau starting from (2009-2010). The Directorate of
Economics and Statistics, Assam published a report on Employment-Unemployment scenario
in Assam taking the extract from the Employment and Unemployment Survey (2011-2012),
(Assam part) publication.
Comparative analysis of the Survey
The Employment-Unemployment Survey results show that in the rural sector majority of
the household (HHs) are self employed in Assam i.e 626 households per 1000 household. But
at All India level 508 households out of 1000 HHs are estimated to be having selfemployment as the major source of income. Further, it is observed that the proportion of hhs
falling under self -employed category in Agricultural activities is significantly higher in
Assam which is 448 out of 1000 hhs. Similarly, in the regular wage/salary earning category
of hhs a higher proportion (155 hhs out of 1000 hhs) is observed in Assam than at national
level which is 111 hhs out of 1000 hhs.
In the urban areas at All India level, the maximum proportion of hhs i.e 423 hhs out of
1000 hhs are regular wage/salary earnings as the major source o0f income followed by 344
hhs having self employment and 152 hhs as Casual labour, but in case of Assam it is
observed that a higher proportion of hhs are engaged in regular wage/Salary earnings i.e 491
out of 1000 hhs and in self employed category 412 hhs out of 1000hhs. In case of
Agricultural Labour in rural areas 207 out of 1000 hhs are engaged in All India level as
against 89 hhs in Assam followed by 125 hhs in All India category against 90 hhs in Assam
are engaged as Other labour.
Another important aspect of the Survey is the measurement of labour force by various
parameters like Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR),
Unemployment Rate (UR), Proportion Unemployed (PR) and Labour Force Participation
(LFP) per 1000 persons by various approaches. Thus it is observed that the LFPR based on
Usual Principal Status approach at All India level is estimated at 529 persons out of 1000
persons. The male and female person LFPR is estimated to be 774 and 254 persons
respectively per 1000 persons each. The similar figures in case of Assam stood at 523 out of
1000 persons the male and female figures being 806 and 195 persons per 1000 persons each.
47 The LFPR is the highest i.e 554 persons out of 1000 persons is estimated under UsualStatus approach followed by 575 persons out of 1000 persons in case of Assam. Another
important parameter of the labour force is Unemployment Rate (UR), the UR at All India
level is estimated at 38 out of 1000 persons under the Usual-Principal Status approach
compared to 63 out of 1000 persons in case of Assam as seen in Table 5.2. In case of male
category the UR is 29 out of 1000 persons where as for the female-Category the UR is
estimated at 69 out of 1000 persons at All India level and 47 male and 138 female in case of
Assam. Another parameter is worker Population Ratio (WPR). At All India level, the WPR
based on Usual Principal Status approach is estimated at 508 persons out of 1000 persons and
in case of Assam it is seen to be 490 persons .
Another important aspect of the Survey is that the labour force parameters are based on
various social groups namely, Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other
Backward Classes (OBC) and General category (GC). The WPR of different social groups
based on Usual Principal Status in case of All India is highest in Scheduled Tribes (ST)
which is 581 persons out of 1000 persons followed by 542 persons out of 1000 persons in the
SC group and 516 persons out of 1000 persons in the OBC category and lowest in the
General category, i.e, 458 persons under the Usual Principal Status approach as noticed in
Table 11(a), whereas in case of Assam the WPR according to the Usual Principal Status
approach is highest in OBC category, i.e., 512 persons out of 1000 persons followed by 497
persons out of 1000 persons in the ST group and 485 persons out of 1000 persons in SC
category and lowest in the General category, i.e., 474 persons.
48