emplyment scenario

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Report No. 531 (64/10.2/1)

Employment and Unemployment Situation in India

2007-08

NSS 64th ROUND

(July 2007 June 2008)

National Sample Survey OfficeMinistry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

Government of India

May 2010


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Highlights

NSS Report No. 531: Employment and Unemployment Situation in India: July, 2007-June, 2008

H-i

HIGHLIGHTS

This report is based on the 64th

round survey on employment and unemployment and migrationparticulars conducted during July, 2007 to June, 2008. The survey covered a sample of 1,25,578

households (79,091 in rural areas and 46,487 in urban areas) and a sample of 5,72,254 persons

(3,74,294 in rural areas and 1,97,960 in urban areas). Employment and unemployment rates were

measured in three different approaches, viz. usual status (us) with a reference period of one year,current weekly status (cws) with a one-week reference period and current daily status (cds)based

on the daily activity pursued during each day of the reference week. Unless otherwise stated, allusual status workers will mean all workers taking into consideration the usual principal andsubsidiary status taken together (ps+ss). Some of the key findings are stated below.

A. Household and Population Characteristics

About 72 per cent of the households belonged to rural India and accounted for nearly74 per cent of the total population.

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

The population in the age group 15-59 years, which is defined to be economicallyactive, comprised about 57 per cent of males and 60 per cent of females in rural areasand about 67 per cent of males and 66 per cent of females in urban areas.

B. Labour Force and Work Force

According to the usual status (ps+ss), 41 per cent of population belonged to the labourforce. 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 percent of rural females belonged to the labour force. 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 femaleWPR. 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 inthe current weekly status, which, in turn, were lower than those according to usualstatus 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 inusual status (ps+ss) remained unchanged at 55 per cent. However, for females, itdecreased 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).


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Highlights


H-ii

WPR for children of age 5-14 years had shown a declining trend during the period from1993-94 and 2007-08. The reduction in WPR for both male and female children in rural

areas was from 6 per cent in 1993-94 to 2 per cent in 2007-08. In the urban areas, the

reduction in WPR for male children was from 4 per cent in 1993-94 to 2 per cent in

2007-08 and for female children from 3 per cent to 1 per cent.

In usual status (ps+ss), among rural males, WPR was the highest (57 per cent) amongthe scheduled tribe (ST) while it was the lowest (54 per cent) among scheduled caste

(SC) and other backward class (OBC). Female WPR, in the rural areas, was the highestfor ST (40 per cent) and the lowest for others(22 per cent).

Among urban males, WPR according to usual status was the highest for SC andothers (56 per cent each) while WPR was the lowest among the ST (51 per cent).

Female WPR, in the urban areas, was the highest among the ST (20 per cent) and the

lowest among the others (12 per cent).

Self-employment status was dominant for both males and females in both rural andurban area. In rural India, more than half of the usually employed (all workers) were

self-employed 55 per cent among males and nearly 58 per cent among females. Thecorresponding figures in urban India were 43 per cent for males and 42 per cent for

females.

The percentage of regular wage/salaried employees was relatively lower amongfemales as compared to males in both rural and urban India. The proportion ofregular

wage/salariedpersons was 9 per cent for males and 4 per cent for females in the rural

areas, whereas in urban areas, these figures were 42 per cent and 38 per cent

respectively.

The share of the casual labourers in total workforce was much higher in the rural areasthan in the urban areas. In the rural areas, nearly 36 per cent of male workers and 38

per cent of female workers, were casual labourers. In the urban areas, nearly 15 percent of male workers and 20 per cent of female workers were casual labourers.

In rural India, among the usually employed (ps+ss), about 67 per cent of males and 84per cent of females were engaged in agriculture sector. The corresponding figures in1977-78 were 81 per cent and 88 per cent, respectively.

In urban India, the trade, hotel and restaurant sector engaged about 28 per cent of themale workers, while in manufacturing nearly 24 per cent of the male workers were

engaged. During 1977-78 to 2007-08, the proportion of urban males engaged in

manufacturing decreased from 28 per cent to 24 per cent while the increase for trade,

hotel & restaurant during this time period was from 22 per cent to 28 per cent.

For urban females, other services sector accounted for the highest proportion (38 percent) of workers, followed by manufacturing (28 per cent) and agriculture (15 percent).

Since 1977-78, the proportion of urban females employed in agriculture fell by nearly17 percentage points (from 32 per cent in 1977-78 to 15 per cent in 2007-08).


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Highlights


H-iii

Compared to the urban areas, in the rural areas, a very high percentage of persons wereengaged in subsidiary economic activity. About 14 per cent of rural population and 2per cent of urban population were engaged in subsidiary economic activity.

In the rural areas, engagement in subsidiary economic activity was more prevalentamong those classified as workers in the usual principal activity status. Nearly 25 percent of rural male workers (as per PS) and 24 per cent of rural female worker (as per

PS) were engaged in subsidiary economic activity.

Considerable gender differentials in the wage rates (per day) forregular wage/salariedemployees were 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, male wage rate was Rs. 276.04 against the female wagerate of Rs. 212.86.

The wage rate forcasual labour in public works was significantly higher than that forthe casual labours in other than public works.

In the rural areas, the wage rate, for workers of age 15-59 years, engaged as casuallabour in public works other than Mahatma Gandhi NREG (MGNREG) public works

was Rs. 74.45 and forMGNREG public works, was Rs. 78.91. On the other hand, thewage rates, for workers of age 15-59 years, engaged as casual labour in other thanpublic works was Rs. 60.33 in the rural areas and Rs. 72.24 in urban areas.

No male-female disparity in the wage rates forcasual labours in MGNREG public

works existed and the disparity was almost negligible in case ofcasual labour in other

than MGNREG public works. However, considerable male-female and rural-urban

disparities in wage rate existed among the casual labours in other type of works.

In the rural areas, average male wage rate (of workers of age 15-59 years) forcasuallabour 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 publicworks, the wage rate (of workers of age 15-59 years) was nearly Rs. 79.00 for both

male and female.

The percentage share of person-days in rural casual labour in public works during NSS64

thround was four times higher than that observed in NSS 61

stround. In the rural

areas, share of person-days in MGNREG public works and other public works in total

casual labourperson-days for male and female combined was 3.2 per cent.

In the rural sector, on an average, Rs. 66.59 was earned in a day by a male casuallabourer (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 thanpublic works earned Rs. 86.58 in a day and a female, Rs. 51.34 in a day.


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C. Unemployment Rate

At the all-India level, unemployment rate was nearly 8 per cent in the cds approach. Theunemployment rate stood at nearly 4 per cent in cws and 2 per cent in the usual statusapproach, i.e., in usual (adj.).

The unemployment rates for the urban areas in the usual (adusted.) status approach was 4

per cent compared to 2 per cent in the rural areas and 5 per cent in cws in the urban areascompared to 4 per cent in the rural areas. In cds the rate was nearly 7 per cent in the urban

areas and 8 per cent in the rural areas.

In the rural areas, generally, the female unemployment rate was lower than the maleunemployment rate, in all the approaches of measurement, but this trend was reverse inthe case of urban areas.

In the rural areas, female unemployment rate stood at 8 per cent in cds compared to 9 percent for males while in the urban areas, female unemployment rate in the cds was nearly10 per cent which was 3 percentage point higher compared to male unemployment rate.

D. Underemployment

The proportion ofusually employedmales (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 ofusually employedfemales (ps+ss) not employed (unemployed+ notin 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) ofthe usually employed (ps+ss) was about 36 per cent and 19 per cent for females in ruraland urban areas respectively as against 11 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 referenceweek (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 above approximate indicators of rate of underemployment indicate that the

incidence of underemployment was higher in rural than urban and higher for femalesthan for males.


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Highlights


H-v

Some important employment and unemployment indicators at a glance

rural urban rural+urban

indicator male female person male female person male female person

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

usual principal status

LFPR 551 220 389 573 126 358 557 196 381

WPR 538 216 381 550 118 342 541 190 371

PU 13 4 9 23 8 16 16 5 11

UR 23 19 22 40 66 45 28 27 28

usual status (ps + ss)

LFPR 559 292 429 576 146 369 563 254 413

WPR 548 289 422 554 138 354 550 250 404

PU 11 3 7 22 8 15 14 4 9

UR 19 11 16 38 52 41 24 17 22

current weekly status

LFPR 547 245 400 572 138 363 554 217 390

WPR 525 237 384 545 129 345 530 209 374

PU 22 9 16 27 9 18 24 9 16

UR 41 35 39 47 65 50 43 40 42

current daily status

LFPR 536 204 374 568 125 355 544 183 369

WPR 490 187 342 529 113 329 500 168 339

PU 45 17 31 39 12 26 44 15 30

UR 85 81 84 69 95 74 80 84 81

wage rates (Rs.) for persons of age 15-59 years

Casual labour in

MGNREGA public

works

78.84 79.00 78.91

Casual labour in

other public works76.02 70.66 74.45

Casual labour inother type of works 66.59 48.41 60.33 86.58 51.34 72.24 67.09 48.51 60.65

Regular wage/

salaried persons175.30 108.14 162.94 276.04 212.86 265.18 238.41 171.68 226.64


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Contents

Report No. 531: Employment and Unemployment Situation in India: July, 2007-June, 2008

CONTENTSPage

Chapter One Introduction

The report in perspective 1

Background 1-2

Scope of the present survey 2-3The survey outline 3

Sampling design 3-4

Contents of the Report 4

Plan for release of results 4

Chapter Two Concepts and Definitions

Concepts and definitions of some important terms 5-16

Annexure I: Broad Structure of NIC 2004 (Sections andDivisions)

17-18

Chapter Three Summary of Findings

Introduction 19-20

Characteristics of Households and Population 20-27

Labour Force and Employed Population 27-51

Unemployment 51-57

Underemployment 58-60

Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social

Groups

60-65

Some important results (Statements) for each State/U.T. 66-197

Appendix A Detailed Tables A-1 A-295

Appendix B Sample Design and Estimation Procedure B-1 B-8

Appendix C Facsimile of Schedule 10.2 on Employment &

Unemployment and Migration Particulars

C-1 C-10

Appendix D Projected Population D-1 D-3


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Appendix A: Detailed Tables

Table No. Title Page

Table (1): Number of villages/ UFS blocks, households and persons surveyed by

state/ u.t.

A-1

Table (2) Estimated number of households and number of persons by age and sex,average household size, sex ratio for each state/ u.t.

A-1 - A-4

Table (3) Class limits of the quintile groups on MPCE and average MPCE for each

quintile group for each state/ u.t.

A-5 - A-6

Table (4) Class limits of the decile groups on MPCE and average MPCE for each

decile group for all-India

A-7

Table (5) Distribution (per 1000) of persons of age 5 years and above by levels ofgeneral and technical education for different age-groups

A-8 A-16

Table (6) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by usual principal activity category foreach age-group

A-17 A-25

Table (7) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by usual activity category taking also

into consideration the subsidiary economic status of persons categorized'not working' in the principal status (ps+ss) for each age-group separatelyfor each household social group

A-26 A-70

Table (8) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by current weekly activity for each age-

group

A-71 A-115

Table (9) Distribution (per 1000) of person-days by current daily activity for eachage-group

A-116 A-160

Table (10) Distribution (per 1000) of usually working persons by industry of work A-161 A-166

Table (11) Distribution (per 1000) of persons/ person-days working according to

cws/ cds by industry of work

A-167 A-172

Table (12) Distribution (per 10,000) of workers by occupation group/division A-173 A-175

Table (13) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by current weekly activity status forpersons with different usual activity status (ps+ss)

A-176 A-181

Table (14) Distribution (per 1000) of person-days by current daily activity status forpersons with different usual activity status (ps+ss)

A-182 A-187

Table (15) Distribution (per 1000) of person-days by current daily activity status forpersons with different current weekly activity status

A-188 A-193

Table (16) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by usual subsidiary economic activityfor each usual principal activity

A-194 A-202


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Contents


Table No. Title Page

Table (17) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by usual activity category taking alsointo consideration the subsidiary economic status of persons categorised'not working' in the principal status (ps+ss) for each general educationallevel for each of the age groups 0-14, 15-24, 15-29, 15-59, 15+ and allages

A-203 A-256

Table (18) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by usual activity category taking alsointo consideration the subsidiary economic status of persons categorized'not working' in the principal status (ps+ss) for each decile group onhousehold monthly per capita consumer expenditure class

A-257 A-262

Table (19R/U) Distribution (per 1000) of persons by usual activity category taking alsointo consideration the subsidiary economic status of persons categorised'not working' in the principal status (ps+ss) for each household type forrural/urban areas

A-263 A-268

Table (20) Average wage/ salary earnings (Rs. 0.00) per day received from regularwage/salaried employment (31,71 & 72) according to current daily status

by industry of work and broad educational level for the persons of agegroups 15-59 years and 15+

A-269 A-286

Table (21) Average wage earnings (Rs. 0.00) per day received by casual wageemployment (41,42, 51) according to current daily status by industry of

work for different age-groups

A-287 A-295


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Chapter One

Introduction


1

Chapter One

Introduction

1.0 The report in perspective

1.0.1 An all-India survey on the situation of employment and unemployment and migration

particulars in India was carried out during NSS 64th

round (July, 2007 to June, 2008). The

collection of information on employment and unemployment particulars was as a part of the

annual series of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) which was started in NSS

60th

round and repeated in NSS 62nd

round. In between NSS 60th

and NSS 62nd

round, the

seventh quinquennial round of NSS was conducted in NSS 61st

round (2004-05). The overall

sample size for NSS 64th

round was comparable with that of NSS 61st

round but was on the

lower side in NSS 62nd

round. However, the designs of these three rounds were different. NSS

61st

and 64th

rounds were oriented towards demographic design while the design of NSS 62nd

round design was enterprise based.

1.0.2 In this round, the scope of the survey on employment and unemployment was enhancedwith the collection of information on migration particulars of the households, of the household

members and of the out-migrants. In this survey, a nation-wide enquiry was conducted in a

moderately large sample of households to provide estimates on various characteristics

pertaining to employment and unemployment and migration particulars in India and some

characteristics associated with them at the national and state levels. Information on various

facets of employment and unemployment and migration in India were collected through a

schedule of enquiry (Schedule 10.2). Based on the data collected during the survey period,

estimates pertaining to employment-unemployment in India along with various characteristics

associated with these have been presented in this report.

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Past Surveys: To assess the volume and structure of employment and unemployment,starting with the 9

thround (May-September, 1955), NSSO conducted a number of surveys on

employment and unemployment. To give a firm conceptual framework for conducting such

surveys, the Planning Commission, in the year 1970, set up an Expert Committee on

Unemployment Estimates, (popularly known as the Dantwala Committee), which reviewed

these surveys and the indicators generated from such surveys. Based on concepts and

definitions recommended by this Committee, the first quinquennial survey on employment and

unemployment was conducted in the 27th

round of NSS. After the 27th

round, quinquennial

surveys on employment and unemployment situation in India have been carried out by the

NSSO, during the 32nd

round (July 1977 - June 1978), 38th

round (January 1983 - December

1983), 43rd



round (July

1999 - June 2000) and 61st round (July 2004 - June 2005) in which concepts, definitions and

procedures were based primarily on the recommendations of the Dantwala Committee. The

results of these surveys have been brought out in the form of NSS reports.

1.1.2 Other surveys on employment-unemployment: Apart from these quinquennial surveys onemployment and unemployment, NSSO has been regularly collecting information on certain

key items on employment and unemployment, as a part of annual series, from a smaller sample

of households in each round since its 45th

round (July 1989 - June 1990) through the schedule

on Household Consumer Expenditure (Schedule 1.0). The objective of data collected in the

annual series was, measuring employment and unemployment indicators in terms of the usual


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Chapter One

Introduction


2

and current weekly statuses only, and study of these indicators in respect of category of

employment, industrial distribution of the usually employed, etc. These procedures continued

till the 59th

round of NSS. In the NSS 60th

round survey, there was a significant change in

respect of the procedure of data collection and content of information as compared to the

earlier annual rounds. In the NSS 60th

round and in NSS 62nd

round, a separate schedule

(Schedule 10) on employment and unemployment was canvassed in a separate set of sample

household to enable providing estimates of employment and unemployment on the basis of

current daily status approach also.

1.2 Scope of the present survey

1.2.1 Subject coverage: The 64th round (July 2007-June 2008) of NSS was earmarked forsurvey on Employment-Unemployment and Migration, Participation and expenditure in

Education and Household Consumer Expenditure. In this survey, information on various

facets of employment and unemployment as well as on migration in India was collected

through the employment-unemployment schedule (Schedule 10.2). In terms of subject

coverage for employment and unemployment part of the schedule, this survey is broadly

similar to the NSS 60th

round and NSS 62nd

round surveys on employment and unemployment

in which a separate schedule on employment and unemployment was canvassed in the annual

rounds. The facsimile of Schedule 10.2 used in the NSS 64th round is given in Appendix C.

1.2.2 Items of enquiry: In Schedule 10.2 of NSS 64 th round (July 2007 June 2008)

information was collected regarding the employment-unemployment characteristics and

migration particulars.

1.2.2.1 NSSO collected data on employment-unemployment characteristics, based on which,

estimates of employment and unemployment, measured in terms of three basic approaches,

viz., usual status, current weekly status and current daily status can be obtained. The reference

period for these approaches differ - it being 365 days preceding the date of survey for usual

status, 7 days preceding the date of survey for current weekly status and each day of the 7

days preceding the date of survey for current daily status. Data were collected on the activity

status of all persons, i.e. for workers, for those seeking or available for work and also for those

remaining out of labour force. A worker could be self-employed or enjoy regular

salaries/wages or be employed on casual wage basis. Data on this aspect, along with the

industry of work of the worker and his/her occupation, were collected during this survey. In

order to reveal the multi-dimensional features of the employment-unemployment situation in

India, information on several correlates pertaining to it were also gathered. For the purpose of

collection of information on industry of activity, National Industrial Classification (NIC), 2004

and National Classification of Occupation (NCO) 2004 was used in this survey. The concepts

used to collect data on employment-unemployment are similar to those used in the usual

quinquennial rounds.

1.2.2.2 In the present survey, migration particulars of the households and the householdmembers were also collected through Schedule 10.2 (Employment & Unemployment and

Migration Particulars). Regarding households which have migrated to the place of enumeration

during the last 365 days, particulars such as location of last usual residence, pattern of

migration and reason for migration were collected. Particulars of out-migrants who migrated

out to other village/ town, from the household, any time in the past, such as present place of

residence, reason for migration, period since leaving the household, whether presently engaged

in any economic activity, whether sent remittances, number of times and amount of remittances

sent during last 365 days to the households by such former members who had migrated out

were collected. Information on the use of remittances received by the households during last

365 days from the members who migrated out any time in the past was also collected. From


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Chapter One

Introduction


3

each of the sample migrants, information on reason for migration, period elapsed since

migration, location of last usual place of residence, usual activity pursued at the time of

migration, whether a return migrant, etc., was collected. In this survey, to assess the short

duration movements of the people of India, for the household members who had stayed away

for employment or in search of employment for a period of 30 days to 6 months, information

on number of spells of duration of 15 days or more, destination for longest spell and industry of

work, if worked, were collected.

1.2.3 Geographical Coverage: The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union except (i)

Leh (Ladakh) and Kargil districts of Jammu & Kashmir (for central sample), (ii) interior

villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of the bus route and (iii) villages in

Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remain inaccessible throughout the year.

1.3 The survey outline

1.3.1. Method of data collection: The survey used the recalled-based interview method using aschedule for data collection from a sample of randomly selected households. The sample

design on the basis of which the selection of households was made is stated in brief in the

following sub-section.

1.3.2 Period of survey and work programme: The fieldwork of 64th round of NSSO started

from 1st

July, 2007 and continued till 30th

June, 2008. As usual, the survey period of this round

was divided into four sub-rounds, each with a duration of three months, the 1st

sub-round

period ranging from July to September, 2007, the 2nd

sub-round period from October, 2007 to

December, 2007, 3rd

sub-round from January, 2008 to March, 2008 and 4th

sub-round from

April, 2008 to June, 2008. An equal number of sample villages/blocks (FSUs), as far as

possible, were allotted for survey in each of these four sub-rounds.

1.4 Sampling design

1.4.1 An outline of the sampling design: A stratified multi-stage design was adopted for the

64th

round survey. The first stage units (FSU) were the 2001 census villages (Panchayat wards

in case of Kerala) in the rural sector and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks in the urban

sector. However, for the newly declared towns and out growths (OGs) in Census 2001 for

which UFS were not done, each individual town/ OG were considered as an FSU. The ultimate

stage units (USU) were the households in both the sectors. In case of large FSUs, i.e. villages/

towns/ blocks requiring hamlet-group (hg)/ sub-block (sb) formation, one intermediate stage

was the selection of two hgs/ sbs from each FSU. Details of the sample design and estimation

procedure is given in Appendix B.

1.4.2 Sample Size first stage units: At the all-India level, 12,688 FSUs (7,984 villages and

4,704 urban blocks) was allocated for survey. The total number of sample FSUs was allocatedto the States and UTs in proportion to population as per Population Census 2001 subject to a

minimum sample allocation to each State/ UT. While doing so, the resource availability in

terms of number of field investigators was kept in view. The State/ UT level sample size was

allocated between rural and urban sectors in proportion to population as perCensus 2001 with1.5 weightage to urban sector subject to the restriction that urban sample size for bigger states

like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, etc., did not exceed the rural sample size. A minimum of 8

FSUs were allocated to each state/ UT, separately, for rural and urban areas. Further, the State

level allocation for both rural and urban sectors were adjusted marginally in a few cases to

ensure that each stratum got a minimum allocation of 4 FSUs. Within each sector of a State/

U.T., the respective sample size was allocated to the different strata in proportion to the stratum


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Chapter One

Introduction


4

population as per census 2001. Allocations at stratum level were adjusted to a multiple of 4

with a minimum sample size of 4. Out of these 12,688 FSUs allotted for survey, 12,589 FSUs

could be surveyed 7,921 in rural and 4,668 in urban. Note that in the 64th

round, a sample of

13,600 FSUs (8,304 villages and 5,296 urban blocks) was also selected for survey by the state

agencies (State sample) at the all-India level.

1.4.3. Sample size second stage units: For Schedule 10.2, a sample of 10 households was

planned for survey from each selected village and urban block. In the Central sample, 1,25,578households were actually surveyed 79,091 in rural areas and 46,487 in urban areas. As

regards the actual number of persons surveyed, it was 3,74,294 in the rural sector and 1,97,960

in the urban sector.

1.5 Contents of the Report

1.5.1 All the estimates presented in this report are based on the Central sample data only. This

report deals, in some details, with the employment-unemployment estimates measured in terms

of the three basic approaches of usual status, current weekly status and current daily status and

their patterns along with their correlates. It also covers some aspects of underemployment. The

report gives the results generated at all-India level and some important results for different

States/ Union Territories.

1.5.2 As stated earlier, this report deals with various estimates on employment and

unemployment along with their correlates as obtained from data collected on relevant items for

the entire round. Consequently, all discussions in this report are limited to only such

items/concepts, based on which estimates have been generated. A detailed explanation of these

is given in the next chapter entitled Concepts and Definitions.

1.5.3 This report contains three chapters, including the present introductory chapter, and four

appendices. Chapter Two states in detail the concepts and definitions of terms used in the

survey in connection with the various items covered in this report. Chapter Three discusses the

main findings of the survey. While the detailed tables based on which this report is brought out

are presented in the Appendix A, the sample design and the estimation procedure is given in

Appendix B. The facsimile of the schedule is given in Appendix C. In Appendix D, the

Projected Population as on 1st March 2007 and 1st March 2008 supplied by RGI Office have

been presented along with those projected for 1st January 2008 using compound rate of

growth. The projections have been given for, male and female, separately, for rural and urban

for each State/U.T.

1.6 Plan for release of results

1.6.1 It has been planned to bring out two reports on the basis of data collected in Schedule

10.2 (Employment & Unemployment and Migration particulars) of NSS 64th

. The present

report - first in the series of two reports - deals in some detail, with the employment-unemployment estimates measured in terms of the three basic approaches ofusual status(us),current weekly status (cws) and current daily status (cds) and their patterns along with theircorrelates. It also covers some aspects of underemployment. The report gives the results

generated at all-India level and some important results for different states/union territories. The

other report planned to be released is Migration in India: 2007-08, in which various aspects of

household migration, features of out-migrants, receipt and use of remittances by the

households, migration particulars of the household members, etc., have been discussed.


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Concepts and Definitions

NSS Report No. 531: Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, July, 2007 - June, 20085

Chapter Two


2.0 The concepts and definitions of some important terms used in the survey and relevant to

this report are explained in the following paragraphs.

2.1 Household: A group of persons who normally lived together and took food from a

common kitchen constituted a household. The adverb normally means that temporary

visitors and guests (whose total period of stay in the household was expected to be less than 6

months) were excluded but temporary stay-aways (whose total period of absence from the

household was expected to be less than 6 months) were included. Thus a child residing in a

hostel for studies was excluded from the household of his/her parents, but a resident domestic

servant or paying guest (but not just a tenant in the house) was included in the

employers/hosts household. Living together was given more importance than sharing

food from a common kitchen in drawing the boundaries of a household in case the two criteria

were in conflict. However, in the special case of a person taking food with his family but

sleeping elsewhere (say, in a shop or a different house) due to shortage of space, the householdformed by such a persons family members was taken to include the person also. Each inmate

of a hotel, mess, boarding-lodging house, hostel, etc., was considered to be a single-member

household except that a family living in a hotel (say) was considered one household only. The

same principle was applicable for the residential staff of such establishments. The size of a

household is the total number of persons in the household.

2.2 Age (years): The age in completed years, as on the date of survey, of the household

members were recorded.

2.3 Household type: The household types were assigned on the basis of the sources of the

household's income during the last 365 days preceding the date of survey. For this purpose,

only the household's income from economic activities was considered. The income of servantsand paying guests was not taken as the income of the household. Household types have been

arranged as follows:

Forrural areas, household types (codes are given in brackets) were as follows:

self-employed in:

agriculture (4),

non-agriculture (1),

rural labour:

agricultural labour (2),

other labour (3),

residual other households (9).

Forurban areas, the household types (codes are given in brackets) were as follows:

self-employed (1),

regular wage/salary earning (2),

casual labour (3),

residual other households (9) .


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2.3.1Procedure for assigning household type codes in rural sector: For a rural household, if

a single source (among the five sources of income listed in preceding paragraph) contributed

50% or more of the household's income from economic activities during the last 365 days, the

type code (1, 2, 3, 4 or 9) corresponding to that source was assigned.

For a household to be classified as agricultural labour or self-employed in agriculture (code

2 or 4) its income from that source must be 50% or more of its total income. If there is no such

source yielding 50% or more of the household's total income, code 1, 3 or 9 was givenaccording to the following procedure:

To be classified as self-employed in non-agriculture (code 1), the household's income from that

source must be greater than its income from rural labour (all wage-paid manual labour) as well

as that from all other economic activities put together (a three-way division is to be considered

here).

A household not getting code 1, 2 or 4 is to be classified as other labour (code 3) if its income

from rural labour (all wage-paid manual labour) was greater than that from self-employment

as well as that from other economic activities (again a three-way division). All other

households were given type code 9.

2.3.2 Forurban areas the different urban household type codes correspond to four sources ofhousehold income, unlike the rural sector where five sources were considered. An urban

household was assigned the type code 1, 2, 3 or 9 corresponding to the major source of its

income from economic activities during the last 365 days. For a household, which did not have

any income from economic activities, type code 9 (residual other households) was assigned.

2.4 Monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE): For a household, this is the total

consumer expenditure over all items divided by the household size and expressed on a per

month (30 days) basis. A persons MPCE is understood as that of the household to which he or

she belongs.

2.4.1 It may be noted that some of the employment and unemployment characteristics, in this

report, have been studied with the level of living, of the household members. Thus, the

distribution of population by income level is considered as a useful background information

for the study of employment and unemployment. As it is difficult to collect reliable income

data, the NSSO, collects data on consumption expenditure in its surveys. In the present survey

on Employment & Unemployment and Migration Particulars (Schedule 10.2), data onconsumption expenditure was collected through a separate work-sheet which was integrated

with Schedule 10.2 (see Appendix C). The work-sheet is an abridged version of the detailedschedule used for collecting information of household consumer expenditure in the consumerexpenditure survey. The estimate of MPCE derived based on worksheet may not converge tothe corresponding estimates derived through main enquiry schedules of household consumer

expenditure (Schedule 1.0). The abridged work-sheet was used to reduce the respondent

fatigue. Based on the abridged work-sheet, monthly per capita consumer expenditure wasworked out for each sample household, which is expected to serve as a close proxy for income

and facilitates ordering the households and persons thereof in the hierarchy of their level of

living.

2.4.1.1 Decile classes of MPCE: The first decile of the distribution of MPCE over the

population of any region or domain is the level of MPCE below which 10 per cent of the

population lie, the second decile, the level below which 20 per cent of the population lie, and

so on. Thus, the population can be divided into 10 decile classes of MPCE as follows: MPCE

up to the 1st

decile, from 1st

decile to the 2nd

decile, from the 2nd

decile to the 3rd

decile, and so

on. Estimates of employment and unemployment parameters for each of the decile class help to


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portray the variation of such variables with variation in MPCE. In this round, decile classes are

used in all-India tables and are formed separately for the rural and urban sector of India.

2.4.1.2 Quintile classes of MPCE: The population of any region or domain can be divided

into five quintile classes of MPCE, where the 1st

quintile of the distribution of MPCE means

the level of MPCE below 20 per cent of the population lie, the second quintile, the level below

which 40 per cent of the population lie, and so on. In this round quintiles are estimated

separately for the distribution of MPCE in the rural and urban sector of each State/U.T.

2.4.1.3 Procedure for collecting monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE): A

worksheet was used for collection of information on household consumer expenditure in

Schedule 10.2 to get a proxy for total household consumer expenditure, The approximate value

of consumer expenditure obtained through the worksheet has been used for studying

employment and unemployment characteristics of the household members. The worksheet

contained 19 different components of household consumer expenditure. Depending upon the

type of item, either of the two reference periods viz,. 30 days and 365 days, was used to record

consumption of different groups of items. Conceptual framework and approach to record

household consumer expenditure through the worksheet is similar to the one adopted for

detailed household consumer surveys carried out by NSSO.

2.5 General educational level: A person was considered as literate if he/she could both read

and write a simple message with understanding in at least one language. For all the individuals

who were found to be literate, the general level of education was collected in terms of highest

level of education successfully completed. Highest level of education successfully completed

by each member of the household was decided by considering his/ her all general/ technical/

vocational educational level and was recorded in terms of 13 categories viz. (i) not literate, (ii)literate without any schooling, (iii) literate without formal schooling: (a) Non-formal

Education Courses (NFEC)/ Alternative Innovative Education Programme (AIEP), (b) Total Literacy Campaign (TLC)/ Adult Literacy Centres (AEC), (c) others; literate with formal schooling including EGS (iv) below primary, (v) primary, (vi) upper primary/middle, (vii) secondary, (viii) higher secondary, (ix) diploma/certificate course, (x) graduate, and (xi)postgraduate and above. The criterion for deciding primary, upper primary/ middle, secondary,

etc., levels were the same that had been followed in the concerned states/union territories. Thecategory diploma or certificate course meant diploma or certificate courses in general

education, technical education or vocational education, which is below graduation level.

Diploma or certificate courses in general education, technical education or vocational

education, which is equivalent to graduation level, was considered under the category

graduate. Similarly, diploma or certificate courses in general education, technical education

or vocational education, which is equivalent to post-graduation level and above were

considered under the category post-graduate and above. It may be noted that the persons with

general education level secondary and above have been referred to as educated personsinthis report.

2.6 Technical educational level: The highest level of technical education successfully

completed by each member of the household was recorded in terms of 6 categories viz. (i) notechnical education, (ii) technical degree (graduate level) in agriculture/ engineering/technology/ IT/medicine/management, (iii) technical degree (postgraduate and above level) inagriculture/ engineering/ technology/ IT/ medicine/ management, etc., (iv) diploma orcertificate (below graduate level) in agriculture/ engineering/ technology/IT/ medicine/management, etc., (v) diploma or certificate (graduate level) in agriculture/ engineering/

technology/IT/ medicine/ management, etc., and (vi) diploma or certificate (postgraduate andabove level) in agriculture/ engineering/ technology/IT/ medicine/ management, etc. Technicaldiploma or certificate in other subjects included diploma or certificate in management,

applied arts, etc.


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2.7 Public works: Public works were those activities which were sponsored by Government

or Local Bodies, and which covered local area development works like construction of roads,

dams, bunds, digging of ponds, etc., as relief measures, or as an outcome of employment

generation schemes under the poverty alleviation programme such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) public works, Sampoorna Grameen

Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), etc. The coverage of

schemes under public works was restricted to those schemes through which the Government

generated wage employment under poverty alleviation programme, or relief measures. Thetypes of works that were generally undertaken through these schemes, were watershed

development, drought proofing, land levelling, flood control, laying pipes or cables, sanitation,

water harvesting, irrigation canal, development of orchard, road construction, building

construction / repair, running crche, etc. To distinguish between public worksand works notclassifiable as public works, some broad characteristics of public workwere identified, viz.the primary objective is generation of wage employment and poverty alleviation, and creation

of community asset as an outcome in achieving those main objectives. It is to be noted that the

existing activity status code 41 (casual wage labour in public works) was split into two codes

for assigning activity status codes as per current daily activity status and current weekly

activity status, as follows:

(i) worked as casual wage labour in public works other than Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) public works 41

(ii) worked as casual wage labour in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee (MGNREG) public works 42

However, in the usual activity status, code 41 was used for casual wage labour in publicworks, which included all types of public works and code 42 was not applicable in the usualactivity status.

2.8 Economic activity: The entire spectrum of human activity falls into two categories

economic activities and non-economic activities. Any activity resulting in production of goods

and services that add value to national product was considered as an economic activity for the

employment and unemployment survey. Such activities included production of all goods and

services for market (i.e. for pay or profit) including those of government services, and, the

production of primary commodities for own consumption and own account production of fixed

assets.

2.8.1 The full spectrum of economic activities as defined in the UN system of National

Accounts (1993) was not covered in the definition adopted for the NSS 64th

round survey of

Employment and Unemployment. Production of any good for own consumption is considered

as economic activity by UN System of National Accounts (UNSNA 1993) but production of

only primary goods for own consumption was considered as economic activity by NSSO.

While the former considers activities like own account processing of primary products aseconomic activities, in the NSS surveys, processing of primary products for own consumption

was not considered as economic activity.

2.8.2 The term 'economic activity' as defined in the employment and unemployment survey of

NSS 64th

round, therefore, included:

(i) all the market activities performed for pay or profit which result in production of goods

and services for exchange.

(ii) of the non-market activities,


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(a) all the activities relating to the primary sector (i.e. industry Divisions 01 to 14 of

NIC-2004) which result in production (including free collection of uncultivated crops,

forestry, firewood, hunting, fishing, mining, quarrying, etc.) of primary goods for own

consumption

and

(b) activities relating to the own-account production of fixed assets, which include

production of fixed assets includes construction of own houses, roads, wells, etc., and

of machinery, tools, etc., for household enterprise and also construction of any private

or community facilities free of charge. A person may be engaged in own account

construction in the capacity of either a labourer or a supervisor.

As per the practice followed in earlier rounds, certain activities like prostitution, begging, etc.,

which though fetched earnings, were not considered as economic activities. Activity status of a

person was judged irrespective of the situation whether such activity was carried out illegally

in the form of smuggling or not.

2.9Activity status: It is the activity situation in which a person was found during the reference

period with regard to the person's participation in economic and non-economic activities.

According to this, a person could be in one or a combination of the following three broadactivity statuses during a reference period:

(i) working or being engaged in economic activity (work) as defined above,

(ii) being not engaged in economic activity (work) but either making tangible efforts to

seek 'work' or being available for 'work' if 'work' is available and

(iii) being not engaged in any economic activity (work) and also not available for 'work'.

Broad activity statuses mentioned in (i) and (ii) above are associated with 'being in labour

force' and the last with 'not being in the labour force'. Within the labour force, broad activity

status (i) and (ii) were associated with 'employment' and unemployment, respectively.

2.9.1 Identification of each individual in terms of a unique activity status could pose a problem

when more than one of the three broad activity statuses listed above were concurrently

obtained for a person. In such an eventuality, the identification uniquely under any one of the

three broad activity statuses was done by adopting either the major time orpriority criterion.The former was used for classification of persons according to the 'usual activity status'

approach and the latter for classification of persons according to the current activity status

approach. Each of the three broad activity statuses was further sub-divided into several

detailed activity categories. If a person categorised as engaged in economic activity by

adopting one of the two criteria mentioned above was found to be pursuing more than one

economic activity during the reference period, the appropriate detailed activity status code

related to that activity in which relatively more time had been spent. A similar procedure wasadopted for assigning detailed activity code for persons categorised as engaged in non-

economic activity and pursuing more than one non-economic activities.

2.9.2 The detailed activity statuses under each of the three broad activity statuses (viz.

employed, unemployed and not in labour force) and the corresponding codes used in the survey

are given below:


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code description

working (or employed)

self-employed11 worked (self-employed) in household enterprises as own-account worker

12 worked (self-employed) in household enterprises as an employer

21 worked (self-employed) in household enterprises as helper

regular wage/ salaried employee

31 worked as regular wage/salaried employee

casual labour41 worked as casual wage labour in public works other than Mahatma Gandhi NREG

public works

42 worked as casual wage labour in Mahatma Gandhi NREG public works

51 worked as casual wage labour in other types of works

61 did not work owing to sickness though there was work in household enterprise

62 did not work owing to other reasons though there was work in household enterprise

71 did not work owing to sickness but had regular salaried/wage employment

72 did not work owing to other reasons but had regular salaried/wage employment

not working but seeking/available for work (or unemployed)

81 sought work or did not seek but was available for work (for usual status approach)

81 sought work (for current weekly status approach)

82 did not seek but was available for work (for current weekly status approach)

neither working nor available for work (or not in labour force)

91 attended educational institutions

92 attended to domestic duties only

93 attended to domestic duties and was also engaged in free collection of goods(vegetables, roots, firewood, cattle feed, etc.), sewing, tailoring, weaving, etc. for

household use

94 rentiers, pensioners, remittance recipients, etc.

95 not able to work owing to disability

97 others (including beggars, prostitutes, etc.)

98 did not work owing to sickness (for casual workers only)

99 children of age 0-4 years

It may be noted that codes 61, 62, 71, 72, 82 and 98 were applicable for current weekly status

and current daily status approaches only. Moreover, activity status code 41 in the usual status is

used for casual wage labour in all types ofpublic works, whereas in the current activity status,

code 41 is for casual wage labour inpublic works other than MGNREG public works and code42 is for casual wage labour in MGNREG public works.

2.10 Workers (or employed): Persons who were engaged in any economic activity or who,

despite their attachment to economic activity, abstained from work for reason of illness, injury

or other physical disability, bad weather, festivals, social or religious functions or other

contingencies necessitating temporary absence from work, constituted workers. Unpaid helpers

who assisted in the operation of an economic activity in the household farm or non-farm

activities were also considered as workers. Relevant activity status codes within 11 to 72 were

assigned for workers. Workers were further categorized as self-employed (relevant activity


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status codes: 11, 12, 21, 61, 62) , regular salaried/wage employee (relevant activity statuscodes: 31, 71, 72), and casual wage labour (relevant activity status codes: 41, 42 and 51).

2.11 Seeking or available for work (or unemployed): Persons who, owing to lack of work,

had not worked but either sought work through employment exchanges, intermediaries, friends

or relatives or by making applications to prospective employers or expressed their willingness

or availability for work under the prevailing conditions of work and remuneration, were

considered as those seeking or available for work (or unemployed). Activity status codes 81or 82 were assigned for unemployed.

2.12 Labour force: Persons who were either 'working' (or employed) or 'seeking or available

for work' (or unemployed) constituted the labour force. Persons with activity status codes 11

82 constituted the labour force.

2.13 Not in labour force: Persons who were neither 'working' nor 'seeking or available for

work' for various reasons during the reference period were considered as 'not in labour force'.

Persons under this category are students, those engaged in domestic duties, rentiers, pensioners,

recipients of remittances, those living on alms, infirm or disabled persons, too young persons,

prostitutes, etc. and casual labourers not working due to sickness. Activity status codes 91-95,

97 and 98 were assigned for persons belonging to category 'not in labour force'.2.14 Self-employed: Persons who operated their own farm or non-farm enterprises or were

engaged independently in a profession or trade on own-account or with one or a few partners

were deemed to be self-employed in household enterprises. The essential feature of the self-

employed is that they have autonomy (decide how, where and when to produce) and economicindependence (in respect of choice of market, scale of operation and finance) for carrying outtheir operation. The remuneration of the self-employed consists of a non-separable

combination of two parts: a reward for their labour and profit of their enterprise. The combined

remuneration is wholly determined by the revenue from sales after netting out value of

purchased inputs used in production.

2.14.1 Categories of self-employed persons: Self-employed persons were categorised as

follows:

(i) own-account workers: those self-employed persons who operated their enterprises on

their own account or with one or a few partners and who, during the reference period, by

and large, ran their enterprise without hiring any labour. They could, however, have had

unpaid helpers to assist them in the activity of the enterprise;

(ii) employers: those self-employed persons who worked on their own account or with one

or a few partners and, who, by and large, ran their enterprise by hiring labour; and

(iii) helpers in household enterprise: those self-employed persons (mostly family

members) who were engaged in their household enterprises, working full or part time and

did not receive any regular salary or wages in return for the work performed. They did

not run the household enterprise on their own but assisted the related person living in the

same household in running the household enterprise.

2.15 Regular wage/salaried employee: These were persons who worked in others farm or

non-farm enterprises (both household and non-household) and, in return, received salary or

wages on a regular basis (i.e. not on the basis of daily or periodic renewal of work contract).

This category included not only persons getting time wage but also persons receiving piece

wage or salary and paid apprentices, both full time and part-time.

2.16 Casual wage labourer: A person who was casually engaged in others farm or non-farm

enterprises (both household and non-household) and, in return, received wages according to the

terms of the daily or periodic work contract, was a casual wage labourer.


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2.17 Different approaches followed to determine activity status: The persons surveyed were

classified into various activity categories on the basis of the activities pursued by them during

certain specified reference periods. There were three reference periods for this survey. These

are: (i) one year (ii) one week and (iii) each day of the reference week. Based on these three

periods, three different measures of activity status are arrived at. These are termed respectively

as usual status, current weekly status and current daily status. As such the procedures adopted

to arrive at the usual status and current daily status are elucidated below.

2.17.1 Usual principal activity status: The usual activity status relates to the activity status ofa person during the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey. The activity

status on which a person spent relatively longer time (i.e. major time criterion) during the 365

days preceding the date of survey is considered as the usual principal activity status of the person. To decide the usual principal activity of a person, first a two stage dichotomous

classification was followed for determining the broad usual principal activity status (employed

or unemployed or not in labour force) of the person. At the first stage, persons were first

categorised as those in the labour force (either employed or unemployed) and those not in thelabour force depending on the major time spent during the 365 days preceding the date ofsurvey. Persons thus adjudged as not belonging to the labour force were assigned the broad

activity status 'neither working nor available for work' (not in the labour force). At the secondstage, for persons belonging to the labour force, the broad activity status of either 'working'

(employed) or not working but seeking and/or available for work (unemployed) wasascertained based on the same criterion viz. relatively longer time spent in accordance with

either of the two broad statuses within the labour force during the 365 days preceding the date

of survey. Within the broad activity status so determined, the detailed activity status of a

person pursuing more than one such activity was determined once again on the basis of the

relatively longer time spent on such activities. In terms of activity status codes, codes 11-51

were assigned to persons classified as workers and codes 91-97 to those not in the labour force.

In the usual status approach, a single code 81 was assigned to persons seeking or available for

work (unemployed persons) while two separate codes 81 (sought work) and 82 (did not seek

but was available for work) were assigned to unemployed persons according to current weekly

status and current daily status approach.

2.17.2 Usual subsidiary economic activity status: A person whose usual principal status wasdetermined on the basis of the major time criterion could have pursued some economic activity

for a shorter time throughout the reference year of 365 days preceding the date of survey or for

a minor period, which is not less than 30 days, during the reference year. The status in which

such economic activity was pursued was the subsidiary economic activity status of that person.

Activity status codes 11-51 only were used for the subsidiary economic activity performed by a

person. It may be noted that engagement in work in subsidiary capacity may arise out of the

two following situations:

(i) a person may be engaged in a relatively longer period during the last 365 days in some

economic (non-economic) activity and for a relatively minor period, which is not lessthan 30 days (not necessarily for a continuous period), in another economic activity

(any economic activity). The economic activity, which was pursued for a relatively

minor period but not simultaneously with principal activity, was considered as his/hersubsidiary economic activity.

(ii) a person may be pursuing an economic activity (non-economic activity) almost

throughout the year in the principal status and also simultaneously pursuing another

economic activity (any economic activity) for a relatively shorter time in a subsidiary

capacity. The economic activity, which was pursued for a relatively shorter time, was

considered as his/her subsidiary economic activity.


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2.17.3 Usual activity status considering principal and subsidiary status taken together: Theusual status, determined on the basis of the usual principal activity and usual subsidiary

economic activity of a person taken together, is considered as the usual activity status of the

person and is written as usual status (ps+ss). According to the usual status (ps+ss), workers are

those who perform some work activity either in the principal status or in the subsidiary status.

Thus, a person who is not a worker in the usual principal status is considered as worker

according to the usual status (ps+ss), if the person pursues some subsidiary economic activityfor 30 days or more during 365 days preceding the date of survey.

2.17.4 Current weekly activity status: The current weekly activity status of a person is theactivity status obtaining for a person during a reference period of 7 days preceding the date of

survey. It is decided on the basis of a certain priority cum major time criterion.

2.17.4.1 According to the priority criterion, the status working gets priority over the statusnot working but seeking or available for work that, in turn, gets priority over the status

neither working nor available for work. A person was considered working (or employed) if

he/she, while pursuing any economic activity, had worked for at least one hour on at least one

day during the 7 days preceding the date of survey. A person was considered seeking or

available for work (or unemployed) if, during the reference week, no economic activity waspursued by the person but he/she made efforts to get work or had been available for work any

time during the reference week though not actively seeking work in the belief that no work was

available. A person who had neither worked nor was available for work any time during the

reference week was considered as engaged in non-economic activities (or not in labour force).

2.17.4.2 After deciding the broad current weekly activity status of a person on the basis of'priority' criterion, the detailed current activity status was then decided on the basis of 'majortime' criterion if that person pursued multiple economic activities. The current weekly activitystatus of a person could be any of the valid codes within 11 to 98. Of these codes, 11 to 72

pertained to workers, 81 to 82 for unemployed and 91 to 98 for persons not in the labour force.

2.17.5 Current daily activity status The activity pattern of the population, particularly in the

informal sector, is such that during a week, and sometimes, even during a day, a person could

pursue more than one activity. Moreover, many people could even undertake both economic

and non-economic activities on the same day of a reference week. The current daily activity

status for a person was determined on the basis of his/her activity status on each day of the

reference weekusing a priority-cum-major time criterion (day to day labour time disposition).Time disposition was recorded for every member of the sample households . This involvedrecording of different activities pursued by the members along with the time intensity in

quantitative terms for each day of the reference week. The different activities were identified

and recorded in terms of 'activity status' and 'industry' codes for persons in urban areas and

'activity status', 'industry' and 'operation' codes for persons in rural areas. The description (and

codes used) of current daily activity statuses is the same as those of current weekly activity

status. The terms industry and operation are explained later. The following points wereconsidered for assigning the time intensity and determining the current daily status of a person:

i) Each day of the reference week was looked upon as comprising either two half days or

a full day for assigning the activity status. For recording time disposition for activities

pursued by a person in a day, an intensity of 1.0 was given against an activity that was

done for full day and an intensity of 0.5 against the activity which was done for half

day.

ii) A person was considered working (employed) for the full day if he/she had worked for

4 hours or more during the day.


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iii) If a person was engaged in more than one of the economic activities for 4 hours or more

on a day, he/she was assigned two out of the various economic activities on which he/she

devoted relatively longer time on the reference day. In such cases, an intensity of 0.5 was

given for each of these two economic activities.

iv) If the person had worked for 1 hour or more but less than 4 hours, he/she was considered

working (employed) for half-day and seeking or available for work (unemployed) or

neither seeking nor available for work (not in labour force) for the other half of the day

depending on whether he was seeking/available for work or not.

v) If a person was not engaged in any work even for 1 hour on a day but was

seeking/available for work for 4 hours or more, he was considered unemployed for the

entire day. But if he was seeking/available for work for more than 1 hour and less than

4 hours only, he was considered unemployed for half day and not in labour force for

the other half of the day.

vi) A person who neither had any work to do nor was available for work even for half a

day was considered not in labour force for the entire day and was assigned one or two

of the detailed non-economic activity statuses depending upon the activities pursued

during the reference day.

2.17.6 The current weekly status of a person is derived from the intensities assigned for thedaily activities performed by a person during the 7 days of the reference week.

2.18 Industry and occupation of the work activity: For the employed persons, to record the

industry of work, 5-digit classification of NIC-2004 was used and to record the type of

occupation, 3-digit classification of NCO-2004 was used. To identify certain category of

workers under Division 95 (Private households with employed persons) of NIC-2004, eight

additional codes were used in the survey viz., housemaid /servant (95001), cook (95002),

gardener (95003), gatekeeper/chowkidar/watchman (95004), governess/baby-sitter (95005),

tutor (95006), driver (95007) and others (95009). Industry Divisions 96 and 97 of NIC-2004

were not used for the purpose of collection of information on industry of activity. The entire

activities described under Division 97 are not under the production boundary of Indian System

of National Accounts (ISNA) and are not also considered as economic activities in the NSSsurvey. A part of the activities under Division 96 (viz., hunting and gathering, farming and the

production of shelter), which is within the production boundary of ISNA, is also considered as

economic activities in NSS surveys and the industry of these undifferentiated activities were

judged in the usual manner as done now, by considering the industry in which major time was

spent. Thus, this part of activities got classified against the respective industries under divisions

01-14 relating to the primary sector or 45 relating to construction. The rest of Division 96 is

outside the production boundary of ISNA and was not considered as economic activity for the

NSS survey. Broad structure of NIC-2004 (Sections and Divisions) have been presented at the

end of this Chapter in Annexure I.

2.19 Manual work: A job essentially involving physical labour was considered as manual

work. However, jobs essentially involving physical labour but also requiring a certain level of

general, professional, scientific or technical education were not termed as 'manual work'. Onthe other hand, jobs not involving much of physical labour and at the same time not requiring

much educational (general, scientific, technical or otherwise) background were treated as

'manual work'. Thus, engineers, doctors, dentists, midwives, etc., were not considered manual

workers even though their jobs involve some amount of physical labour. But, peons,

chowkidars, watchman, etc., were considered manual workers even though their work might

not involve much physical labour. A few examples of manual workers are cooks, waiters,

building caretakers, sweepers, cleaners and related workers, launderers, dry cleaners and

pressers, hair dressers, barbers, beauticians, watchmen, gate keepers, agricultural labourers,

plantation labourers and related workers


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2.20Rural labour: Manual labour working in agricultural and /or non-agricultural occupationsin return for wagespaid either in cash or in kind (excluding exchange labour), either of casualor regular basis, and living in rural areas, was taken as rural labour.

2.21 Wage paid-manual labour: A person who did manual work in return for wages in cash orkind or partly in cash and partly in kind (excluding exchange labour) was considered as a wage

paid manual labour. Salaries were also counted as wages. A person who was self-employed in

manual work was not treatedas a wage paid manual labour.

2.22Agricultural labour: A person was considered as engaged as agricultural labour, if he/shefollowed one or more of the following agricultural occupations in the capacity of a wage paid

manual labour, whether paid in cash or kind or both:

(i) farming,

(ii) dairy farming,

(iii) production of any horticultural commodity,

(iv) raising of livestock, bees or poultry,

(v) any practice performed on a farm as incidental to or in conjunction with farm operations

(including forestry and timbering) and the preparation for market and delivery to storage or

to market or to carriage for transportation to market of farm produce. Further, 'carriage for

transportation' referred only to the first stage of the transportfrom farm to the first place ofdisposal.

Working in fisheries was excludedfrom agricultural labour.

2.23 Wage and salary earnings: Information on wage and salary earnings was collectedseparately for each of the wage/salaried work recorded for a person in a day. Here, earnings

referred to the wage/salary income (and not total earnings taking into consideration of all other

activities done) received/receivable for the wage/salaried work done during the reference week

by a wage/salaried employee and casual labourer. The wage/ salary received or receivable may

be in cash or kind or partly in cash and partly in kind. While recording the earnings following

conventions were followed.

i) The wages in kind were evaluated at the current retail price.

ii) Bonus and perquisites such as free accommodation, reimbursement of expenditurefor medical treatment, free telephones, etc. evaluated at the cost of the employer or

at retail prices and duly apportioned for the reference week were also included in

earnings.

iii) Amount receivable as 'over-time' for the additional work done beyond normal

working time was excluded.

It may be noted that in the survey, at most two activities could be recorded for a person in a

day. Therefore, it is possible that a person might have carried out two or more wage/salaried

activities in a day, but only one activity or two activities at the most, depending upon the time

spent on those activities, was recorded. In that case, the wage/salary income only from that

activity(s) was collected and recorded separately, and not the total income of the person from

all the activities done for the entire day.

2.24 Procedure followed for collecting employment and unemployment particulars indifferent NSS rounds: In the annual rounds from 45 th (July 1989-June 1990) to 59th (Januaryto December 2003), only activity status and industry of work according to usual principal

status, subsidiary status and current weekly status approach were collected through a few

columns of the demographic block of the Consumer Expenditure Schedule (Schedule 1.0).

Particulars of employment and unemployment according to the usual principal status and usual

subsidiary status were collected in the annual rounds by following a similar approach as in the

quinquennial rounds. In the quinquennial rounds, particulars of current daily status of the

household members are collected and current weekly status is derived from them, whereas in

the annual rounds, current weekly status has been obtained through a direct query. In the 60th


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round (January-June 2004), a separate schedule on employment and unemployment was

canvassed for the first time in an annual round and particulars on employment and

unemployment was colleted in the same manner as that of the quinquennial rounds. In NSS

62nd

round (July 2005 - June 2006) also a separate schedule, similar to the one canvassed

during NSS 60th

round, on employment and unemployment was canvassed and in this round

also particulars on employment and unemployment was colleted in the same manner as that of

the quinquennial rounds. In the NSS 64th

round (July 2007-June 2008) a separate schedule was

also used to collect data on employment and unemployment. The scope of the schedule wasfurther enhanced with the inclusion information on the some particulars of the migrant

households, migrant household members and out-migrants. In this round also particulars on

employment and unemployment was colleted in the same manner as that of the quinquennial

rounds.

2.25 Labour force participation rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the number of persons/

person-days in the labour force per 1000 persons /person-days

2.26 Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR defined as the number of persons/person-daysemployed per 1000 persons/person-days.

2.27 Proportion Unemployed (PU): It is defined as the number of persons/person-days

unemployed per 1000 persons/person-days.

2.28 Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the number of persons/person-daysunemployed per 1000 persons/person-days in the labour force (which includes both the

employed and unemployed).

2.28.1 Usual status adjusted UR: Unemployment rates for the reference period of 365 days,

i.e., in usualprincipal status (ps) approximates an indicator of chronically unemployed. Someof the persons categorised as unemployed according to the usual principal activity status might

be working in a subsidiary capacity. Therefore, another estimate of the unemployed excluding

those employed in a subsidiary capacity during the reference period can be derived. The former

is called the usually unemployed according to the principal status (ps) and the latter, theusually unemployed excluding employed in subsidiary status orusual status adjusted i.e., us

(adjusted), which would conceptually be lower than the former.2.29 The architecture of key employment-unemployment indicators are given below in tabular

form:

activity profile* key indicators

activity status(code)

category of persons

11, 12, 21, 31,41, 42, 51, 61,62, 71, 72

workers 1. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR):

populationtotal

personsunemployedofnopersonsemployedofno ..

2. Worker Population Ratio (WPR):

populationtotal

personsemployedofno.

3. Proportion Unemployed (PU):

populationtotal

personsunemployedofno.

4. Unemployment Rate (UR):

personsunemployedofnopersonsemployedofno

personsunemployedofno

..

.

81, 82 unemployed

91, 92 93, 94,95, 97, 98

not in labour force

Note: *: Activity status codes, 42, 61, 62, 71, 72, 82, and 98 are used only in the current status (in

CWSand CDS) and the remaining activity status codes are used in both usualin current status


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Annexure I

BROAD STRUCTURE OF NIC 2004(SECTIONS & DIVISIONS)

Section A: Agriculture, hunting and forestry

Division 01: Agriculture, hunting and related service activities

Division 02: Forestry, logging and related service activities

Section B: FishingDivision 05: Fishing, aquaculture and service activities incidental to fishing

Section C: Mining and quarrying

Division 10: Mining of coal and lignite; extraction of peat

Division 11: Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; service activities incidental to

oil and gas extraction, excluding surveying

Division 12: Mining of uranium and thorium ores

Division 13: Mining of metal ores

Division 14: Other mining and quarrying

Section D: Manufacturing

Division 15: Manufacture of food products and beveragesDivision 16: Manufacture of tobacco products

Division 17: Manufacture of textiles

Division 18: Manufacture of wearing apparel; dressing and dyeing of fur

Division 19: Tanning and dressing of leather; manufacture of luggage, handbags, saddlery,

harness and footwear

Division 20: Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture;

manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials

Division 21: Manufacture of paper and paper products

Division 22: Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media

Division 23: Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel

Division 24: Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products

Division 25: Manufacture of rubber and plastics products

Division 26: Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products

Division 27: Manufacture of basic metals

Division 28: Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment

Division 29: Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.

Division 30: Manufacture of office, accounting and computing machinery

Division 31: Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus n.e.c.

Division 32: Manufacture of radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus

Division 33: Manufacture of medical, precision and optical instruments, watches and clocks

Division 34: Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers

Division 35: Manufacture of other transport equipment

Division 36: Manufacture of furniture; manufacturing n.e.c.Division 37: Recycling

Section E: Electricity, gas and water supply

Division 40: Electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply

Division 41: Collection, purification and distribution of water

Section F: Construction

Division 45: Construction


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Annexure I

Section G: Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and

personal and household goods

Division 50: Sale, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; retail sale of

automotive fuel

Division 51: Wholesale trade and commission trade, except of motor vehicles and

motorcyclesDivision 52: Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles; repair of personal and

household goods

Section H:

emplyment scenario

Documents