About 72 per cent of the households belonged to rural India and accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the total population. Average household size in India was 4.5. The rural household size (4.7) was slightly higher than urban household size (4.2). According to the usual status (ps+ss), 41 per cent of population belonged to the labour force. This proportion was 43 per cent for rural and 37 per cent for urban areas. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) was about 56 per cent of rural males and 29 per cent of rural females. The corresponding proportions in the urban areas were 58 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has released Report No.531 titled  “Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2007-08” based on the household survey on Employment and Unemployment &  Migration Particulars conducted in its 64th round. The field work of the nationwide survey was carried out during July 2007 to June 2008. The survey covered a random sample of 5,72,254 persons, from 79,091 rural households and 46,487 urban households spread over 7921 villages and 4668 urban blocks in the country.

The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union except for Leh (Ladakh) and Kargil districts of Jammu & Kashmir, (ii) interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of a bus route and (iii) villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remain inaccessible throughout the year.

The major purposes of the survey were to study some broad features of employment and unemployment situation in India, such as labour force participation rates, worker population ratio, unemployment rates, wage rates for workers and some indicators  of underemployment. This report also provides the relevant information for all the States/U.Ts.

The present report contains, firstly, some household and population characteristics, such as household size, household type, age distribution of the population, etc. Next, the estimates of labour force participation rates, workforce participation rates, distribution of the workers by industry division, wage rates for casual labours and regular wage/ salaried persons have been presented. Unemployment and underemployment rates have been presented thereafter. Finally, key employement and unemployment characteristics for different social groups have been presented.

The survey on employment and unemployment is carried out by the NSSO on a larger sample size in its quinquennial rounds and the NSS 61st round (2004-05) was the last such round for which results are already available. The present report also provides key indicators of previous rounds for comparison. The key indicators on Labour Force, employment and unemployment derived in the report are based on three approaches viz., usual status (reference period of one year), current weekly status and current daily status as per established standard and concepts.

Some of the important findings of the survey are given below:

A.  Household and Population Characteristics

*   About 72 per cent of the households belonged to rural India and accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the total population.

*   Average household size in India was 4.5. The rural household size (4.7) was slightly higher than urban household size (4.2).

B.  Labour Force and Work Force

*  According to the usual status (ps+ss), 41 per cent of population belonged to the labour force. This proportion was 43 per cent for rural and 37 per cent for urban areas.

*  The labour force participation rate (LFPR) was about 56 per cent of rural males and 29 per cent of rural females. The corresponding proportions in the urban areas were 58 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

* About 40 per cent of the population in the country were employed according usual status (ps+ss).The worker population ratio (WPR) was about 42 per cent in the rural areas and 35 per cent in the urban areas.

*  The male WPR in both the rural and urban areas were considerably higher than female WPR.  In both the rural and urban areas, male WPR was nearly 55 per cent. Compared to this, the female WPR was 29 per cent in rural areas and 14 per cent in urban areas.

*  The WPRs obtained according to current daily status were lower than those obtained in thecurrent weekly status, which, in turn, were lower than those according to usual status rates: WPR in India, was 34 per cent as per current daily status, 37 per cent according to current weekly status, and it was 40 per cent according to usual status.

*  Between 2004-2005 and 2007-08, in both rural and urban areas, WPR for males in usual status (ps+ss) remained unchanged at 55 per cent. However, for females, it decreased by about 4 percentage points for rural areas (from 33 per cent to 29 per cent) and about 3 percentage points for urban areas (from 17 per cent to 14 per cent).

*  In rural India, among the usually employed (ps+ss), about 67 per cent of males and 84 per cent of females were engaged in agriculture sector. The corresponding figures in 1977-78 were 81 per cent and 88 per cent, respectively.

*  In urban India, the ‘trade, hotel and restaurant’ sector engaged about 28 per cent of the male workers, while in ‘manufacturing’ nearly 24 per cent of the male workers were engaged. For urban females, ‘other services’ sector accounted for the highest proportion (38 per cent) of workers, followed by manufacturing (28 per cent) and agriculture (15 per cent).

*  Considerable gender differentials in the wage rates (per day) for regular wage/salaried employeeswere observed. The average wage rate for regular wage/salaried employees, of age 15-59 years, in rural areas was 175.30 for males and Rs. 108.14 for females and in the urban areas,  wage rate for males was Rs. 276.04 against  Rs. 212.86 for females.

*  In the rural areas, average male wage rate (of workers of age 15-59 years) for casual labour other than MGNREG public works was Rs. 76.02 and it was Rs. 70.66 for females.

*  There was no gender differential in wage rate for casual labour in MGNREG public works, the wage rate (of workers of age 15-59 years) was nearly Rs. 79.00 for both rural male and rural female.

*  In the rural sector, on an average, Rs. 66.59 was earned in a day by a male casual labourer (of age 15-59 years) engaged in casual labours other than public works, whereas a female casual labourer earned Rs. 48.41  a day – showing a difference of about Rs. 18. In the urban areas, a male casual labourer engaged in works other than public works earned Rs. 86.58 in a day and a female, Rs. 51.34 in a day.

C. Unemployment Rate

*   At the all-India level, unemployment rate was nearly 8 per cent in the current daily statusapproach. The unemployment rate stood at nearly 4 per cent in current weekly status approachand 2 per cent in the usual status approach, i.e., in usual (adjusted.)

*  In the rural areas, female unemployment rate stood at 8 per cent in current daily status compared to 9 per cent for males while in the urban areas, female unemployment rate in the current daily status was nearly 10 for cent which was 3 percentage point higher compared to male unemployment rate.

D. Underemployment

*  The proportion of usually employed males (ps+ss) who are found to be not employed (unemployed+not in the labour force) during the week preceding the date of survey (current weekly status) was 4 per cent in the rural and 2 per cent in the urban areas.  The proportion of usually employed females (ps+ss) not employed (unemployed+ not in the labour force) during the week preceding the date of survey was as high as 19 per cent in the rural and 7 per cent in urban areas.

*  The proportion of person-days without work (unemployed+ not in the labour force) of the usually employed (ps+ss) was about 36 per cent and 19 per cent for females in rural and urban areas respectively as against 11 per cent and 5 per cent for males in rural and urban areas respectively.

*  The percentage of person-days on which persons with some work during the reference week (according to the current weekly status) were without work (unemployed+not in the labour force) was about 7 for rural males, 21 per rural females, 3 for urban males and 12 for urban females.

The salient indicators on employment and unemployment at All India level are given at Annexure.

Annex

LFPR: Labour Force Participation rate

WPR : Worker Population Ratio

PU  : Proportion Unemployed

UR  : Unemployment Rate

Source:PIB