Indian unemployment rate in 2018-19 was 5.8 pc

The unemployment rate among employable people in 2018-19 was 5.8 per cent, said the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Annual Report from July 2018 to June 2019.

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), defined as the percentage of persons in labour force (working or seeking or available for work) in the population, stood at 37.5 per cent compared to 36.9 per cent previous year.

Worker Population Ratio (WPR),defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population, stood at 35.3 per cent compared to 34.7 per cent previous year.
The number of households surveyed was 1,01,579 (55,812 in rural areas and 45,767 in urban areas) and number of persons surveyed was 4,20,757 (2,39,817 in rural areas and 1,80,940 in urban areas).

The sampling design remains the same as during 2017-18, that is, a rotational panel sampling design in urban areas. In this rotational panel scheme, each selected household in urban areas is visited four times, in the beginning with First Visit schedule and thrice periodically later with a Revisit schedule, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation said.

In urban area, samples for a panel within each stratum were drawn in the form of two independent sub-samples. The scheme of rotation ensures that 75 per cent of the first-stage sampling units (FSUs) are matched between two consecutive visits. There was no revisit in the rural samples.

For rural areas, samples for a stratum or sub-stratum were drawn randomly in the form of two independent sub-samples. For rural areas, in each quarter of the survey period, 25 per cent FSUs of annual allocation were covered.

In view of these changes, the PLFS estimates are not comparable with the results of Employment Unemployment Survey (EUS) of 2011-12 and earlier years, the ministry said. 

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