Unemployment rate dips to 4.2% in 2020-21, says latest PLF survey

NEW DELHI: The unemployment rate or the proportion of persons in the labour force who could not find jobs has dipped to 4.2% in July 2020-June 2021 from 4.8% a year ago amid the pandemic that caused economic disruption, showed a government survey.

The unemployment rate was 5.8% in 2018-19 and 6.1% in 2017-18, as per a statement on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) issued by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation on Tuesday.

According to the PLFS annual report (July 2020 to June 2021), the joblessness or unemployment rate (UR) for persons of all ages came down to 4.2% from 4.8% a year ago (2019-20).

The data showed that joblessness has come down gradually during the four years till 2020-21 (July to June). Similarly, the UR among males has also come down to 4.5% in 2020-21 from 5.1 in 2019-20, 6% in 2018-19, and 6.2% in 2017-18.

The same trend of decline in the UR was found among females as it dipped to 3.5% 2020-21 from 4.2% in 2019-20, 5.2% in 2018-19 and 5.7% in 2017-18.Worker Population Ratio (WPR) has also improved. The WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.

The WPR has increased to 39.8% in 2020-21 from 38.2 in 2019-20, 35.3% in 2018-20 and 34.7% in 2017-18.

The WPR in females also improved to 24.2% in 2020-21 from 21.8% in 2019-20. The WPR among males also rose to 54.9% from 53.9% in 2019-20.

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has also increased. The LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work)in the population.

The LFPR has risen to 41.6% in 2020-21 from 40.1% in 2019-20. It has also increased among males to 57.5% in 2020-21 from 56.8% in 2019-20. It rose in females to 25.1% in 2020-21 from 22.8% in 2019-20. The MOSPI stated that the fieldwork of the PLFS was suspended first time on March 18, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and was resumed in June 2020 with the pending samples for this period.