- Why in news
- On 27 March 2026, MoSPI released the PLFS Annual Report for 2025, the first based on the January–December calendar year and a revamped sample design.
- What it is
- The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is run by the National Statistics Office under MoSPI. It gives estimates of labour force participation, worker population ratio and unemployment rate for rural and urban India, in usual status and current weekly status.
- Survey period shift
- From 2025 the PLFS reporting cycle moved from July–June to January–December, in line with international practice.
Don’t confuse with Usual status vs CWS: Usual status looks back 365 days (ps+ss); CWS looks back 7 days.
Don’t confuse with LFPR vs WPR: LFPR counts working, seeking or available for work; WPR counts only employed persons.
Reports and indices: 14 Prelims questions since 2013; they test who publishes a report and what it measures.
Why it matters
- Gives high-frequency, comparable labour data for employment policy design.
Problems
- The sample redesign breaks strict comparability with earlier series; female LFPR (40.0%) and casual wages remain low.
Way forward
- Use the monthly and quarterly estimates to track jobs, and publish bridging estimates for time-series comparison.
Put in your answer
Regular wage share: Regular wage/salaried share of workers rose to 23.6% in 2025 from 22.4%.
Youth NEET: 25.0% of persons aged 15-29 were not in employment, education or training.
- 2023Mains GS3 · Q11Examine India's unemployment computation methodology and suggest improvements, given structural unemployment.
- 2015Mains GS3 · Q1Whether India's recent economic growth is jobless growth, with arguments for the view.
- 2013Prelims Q67What disguised unemployment generally means, among four given options.
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
Prelims practice · Single answer
Ours, not from a UPSC paper
With reference to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Annual Report for 2025, consider the following statements:
- 1.The PLFS is conducted by the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
- 2.From 2025 the PLFS reporting cycle has shifted from the July–June cycle to the January–December calendar year.
- 3.In current weekly status, the activity of a person is determined from a reference period of the last 30 days.
- 4.Unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed persons in the total population.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
True or false?
1 of 6
Statements the way Prelims prints them. Say first, then see the fact.
1.The PLFS Annual Report 2025 is the first comprehensive PLFS report based on the calendar year as the survey period.
True. It covers January–December 2025, replacing the July–June cycle.
2.Unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed persons in the total population.
False. UR is the percentage of unemployed among persons in the labour force, not the whole population.
3.In the revamped design, sample size rose to about 2.72 lakh households, around 2.65 times the earlier size.
True. Households per FSU rose from 8 to 12 and FSUs from about 12,800 to 22,692.
4.The PLFS 2025 estimates are strictly comparable with earlier annual PLFS reports.
False. Changes in sampling design may affect levels, so they may not be strictly comparable.
5.In 2025, agriculture's share of employment fell to 43.0% from 44.8% but it remained the largest sector.
True. Agriculture is still the largest employer; manufacturing rose to 12.1%.
6.The PLFS is conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
False. It is conducted by the NSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Written by us from the release, not by UPSC; checked by a second model.
Worth revising until Prelims 2027: most news questions come within two years of the event.