Unemployment Rate In Rural & Urban Areas At 5.4% Shows Periodic Labour Force Survey Data

The unemployment rate in the first quarter (April-June) this financial year stood at 5.4 per cent in the country, showed the first ever quarterly periodic labour force survey (PLFS) data, released for both rural and urban areas by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday. 

Unemployment Rate

According to Business Standard, "For rural areas, the headline unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above in current weekly status (CWS) terms stood at 4.8 per cent, while the rate for the urban areas was recorded at 6.8 per cent, according to data."

Reference Period

In CWS, activity is determined on the reference period over the past seven days preceding the date of the survey. Under this, a person is considered unemployed in a week if she or he did not work even for one hour on any day during the reference week but sought or was available for work at least for one hour on any day during the reference week.

Employment Rate

Meanwhile, in the first quarter, the jobless rate for the youth (15-29) was recorded at 14.6 per cent, with females having a higher rate (16 per cent) than males (14.1 per cent). In the labour market, this figure is important because people belonging to this age group are usually first-timers and this metric reflects its robustness.

Wage Employees

According to Business Standard, "The data further showed that 54.4 per cent people were “self-employed” during Q1, while the share of “wage employees” stood at 25.5 per cent. The rest are engaged as “casual labourers”.

Labour Force Participation Rate

The labour force participation rate (LFPR), which represents the share of people either working or seeking work, stood at 55 per cent in Q1, with 77.3 per cent among men and 33.4 per cent among women looking for work. The LFPR was higher in rural areas (57.1 per cent) as compared to urban areas (50.6 per cent).