PLFS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Social Issues)

Context: The Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) have recently been monitoring the gender earnings gap across various forms of employment from April to June 2019 to 2023.

Key Points

• Men consistently earn more than women in all forms of work, with the greatest gender gap observed among self-employed individuals.
• The gender gap in earnings has increased for self-employed workers but decreased for regular wage workers.
• The rise in the gender gap in hours worked is attributed to increasing Labour force participation rates (LFPRs) among rural women in self-employment, but with many of these jobs being part­time in nature.

Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS)

• Objective: In urban areas, for a short three-month interval, focus on the 'Current Weekly Status' (CWS).
• Annually, for both rural and urban areas, assess both the 'Usual Status' and CWS.
• Key Indicators

o Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR represents the proportion of individuals in the population who are part of the labor force, meaning they are either employed, actively seeking employment, or available for work.

o Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR denotes the percentage of the population that is employed.

o Unemployment Rate (UR): UR indicates the percentage of individuals within the labor force who are currently unemployed.