Centre yet to finalise cycle for annual 'Periodic Labour Force Survey'

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) is planning to take up the annual survey of households on employments next year but has not finalised the period of the study, the Business Standard reported.

“We will release both annual and quarterly reports after the full year (2017-18) is over. We are yet to take a call whether it (the survey period) will be for April-March or July-June,” Chief Statistician T C A Anant was quoted as saying.

A quarterly survey for urban areas for a limited set of indicators will be released by NSSO.

The previous five-year surveys covered the July-June period. If this period is changed it would raise an issue of comparability. “Earlier, we used to prepare a July-June report. Comparability issue will come up if we make an April-March report. People will naturally ask why we didn’t take up the July-June cycle. So we might as well wait (and start from July 2017, to be released next year),” Anant added.

The new survey can be called “Periodic Labour Force Survey” and if it is slated for July-June period, then it can be compared with the 2011-12 survey. The proposed survey wouldn’t have annual comparable data till 2019, as the second annual survey would be released in 2019. The surveys in the past were done over a period of five years.

But, the Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2011-12 survey was released after two years, after a two-year cycle. In 2009-10, there was severe drought and the government still released the survey that year in 2011-12.

The official also said the structure of the survey - in terms of the number of households, stratification, and the broad structure of the survey — principal status, subsidiary status, current daily status, current weekly status, usual status— would be maintained with the five-year surveys.

The previous survey 2011-12 covered 7,469 villages and 5,268 urban blocks, covering 101,724 households (59,700 in rural areas and 42,024 in urban areas) and about 456,999 people across the country.

The widespread unorganised sector unemployment in the country explains why the NSSO can’t contribute straightforward surveys, former chief statistician Pronab Sen said.

Anant also said there would be more questions in the survey apart from the usual ones. Questions regarding job card from MNREGA scheme, bank accounts and post office accounts would be included.

Sen clarified the questions were designed would give comfort to the respondents, depending on their social and economic data.

For eg, a typical woman in a rural household does not consider her work in animal husbandry as part of the economic activity. This should be understood while asking these questions, Sen said in a statement.