📊 PLFS 2023–24: India’s Workforce in Figures

India’s Workforce – A Nation Between Hands and Hope

“Some stories are counted not in words, but in work that rises before dawn.”

Theme & Tags:
🧑‍🌾 Employment, Labour Economics, Rural & Urban Workforce, Gender Equity
📘 Category: Economy & Social Issues | GS Paper 3

🔍 Opening Whisper

Between silent hands and spoken numbers, the pulse of a nation’s work begins to unfold.

📈 Key Highlights

• What Is PLFS?
  • Periodic Labour Force Survey launched by National Statistics Office (NSO) in April 2017
  • Aims to provide timely data on:
    • Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)
    • Worker Population Ratio (WPR)
    • Unemployment Rate (UR)
  • Covers both urban and rural regions

📊 Indicator Snapshot: July 2023 – June 2024

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)

• Urban Males: ↑ 74.3% → 75.6%
• Urban Females: ↑ 25.5% → 25.8%
• Overall India: ↑ 50.3% → 51.0%
• Total LFPR (All-India): Stable at 56.2%

Worker Population Ratio (WPR)

• Urban Total: ↑ 47.0% → 47.6%
• All-India: Slight rise from 53.4% → 53.5%

Unemployment Rate (UR)

• Rural Total: ↓ 4.3% → 4.2%
• Urban Male: ↑ 6.0% → 6.1%
• Urban Female: ↓ 8.9% → 8.2%
• Urban Total: Unchanged at 6.7%
• All-India Total: ↓ 5.0% → 4.9%

👩‍🌾 Rural Women & Household Enterprises

• % of unpaid helpers in rural HH enterprises ↓
  • 2023: 19.9%
  • 2024: 18.1%
• Reflects growing diversification in women’s work roles

🧮 Survey Methodology

• Sample Frame:
  • 12,749 FSUs
    • 6,982 villages, 5,767 urban blocks
• Households Covered:
  • 101,957 total
    • 55,846 rural
    • 46,111 urban
• Period of Study: July 2023 – June 2024

📚 GS Mains Mapping

• GS Paper 3
  • Employment Trends & Labour Market Reforms
  • Rural-Urban Workforce Dynamics
  • Women in the Economy
  • Statistical Surveys & Economic Planning
• GS Paper 2
  • Role of Women & Social Empowerment
  • Government Schemes & Institutional Reforms

🪶 A Thought Spark — by IAS Monk

To know a nation, count not its coins or cannons—but the quiet hands that work and the ones still waiting.

🧾 Closing Whisper

In a field or a factory, on a screen or by a loom—every worker is a whisper shaping the future.