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Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS): Revised Design

24 Oct 2026

Tags: Prelims   Current events of national and international importance

Source: The Hindu

Context: The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) proposes changes to PLFS from January 2027.

Key Changes

  • Digital platform workers: Separate Second Stage Stratum (SSS) to identify households with at least one digital platform worker; additional questionnaire entry on platform work.
  • Unpaid work: Questions on own-use production of goods, unpaid household work, caregiving and volunteer activities.
  • Unpaid trainees: Capture engagement in unpaid trainee work.
  • Labour underutilisation: Additional questions to measure underutilised labour.
  • Sampling: Revised sample allocation and stratification to improve population representation and sampling efficiency.
  • Sample coverage: Four SSSs in rural areas and five in urban areas; 14 households per selected First Stage Unit (FSU).
  • PLFS: Provides estimates of key employment and unemployment indicators, including the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR).

Usual Status vs Current Weekly Status (CWS): PLFS uses both approaches to measure employment and unemployment over different reference periods.

Prelims Question

Q1. With reference to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), consider the following statements:

  1. The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) measures the proportion of employed persons in the total population.
  2. The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) measures the proportion of employed persons in the population.
  3. The Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach uses a reference period of seven days preceding the survey.
  4. The Usual Status approach captures employment status over a longer reference period than CWS.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: (b) 

Explanation:

  • Statement 1 is incorrect: LFPR is the percentage of the population that is either employed or unemployed but seeking/available for work, according to the applicable measurement approach.
  • Statement 2 is correct: WPR is the percentage of employed persons in the population.
  • Statement 3 is correct: CWS uses the seven days preceding the survey as its reference period.
  • Statement 4 is correct: Usual Status generally uses a reference period of 365 days preceding the survey.

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