PRESS NOTE ON
Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2004-05

NATIONAL SAMPLE SURVEY ORGANISATION

MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

PRSS INFORMATION BUREAU

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Dated the 7 Asvina, 1928 Saka

29 September, 2006

PRESS NOTE

Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2004-05

NSS Report  No. 515 on “Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2004-05” based on the seventh quiquennial survey on Employment and Unemployment carried out in the NSS 61^st round (July, 2004-June, 2005) by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has been released.  This is the first report in a series of seven reports to be brought out on the basis of the survey. The report presents the estimates of households and population, labour force, work force, unemployment rate, underemployment and labour mobility. Employment and unemployment were measured with three different approaches, viz. usual status with a reference period of one year, current weekly status with one week reference period and current daily status based on daily activity pursued during each day of the reference week. Again in the usual status approach, the employment and unemployment were measured using principal status (ps) and subsidiary status (ss) approaches.

            Like all regular NSS surveys, the present survey practically covered the whole of the Indian Union. All States and Union Territories were covered under the survey. The survey was spread over 7999 villages and 4602 urban blocks covering 79306 households in the rural areas and 45374 households in the urban areas.

            Some of the important findings are given below:

• About 11 per cent of households in both the rural and urban areas were headed by females. Compared to all households, they had, on an average, a relatively smaller household size and a much higher sex-ratio.

• In as many as 26 per cent of the households in the rural areas and 8 per cent in the urban areas, there was not a single member in the age-group 15 years and above who could read and write a simple message with understanding. 

• In the rural areas, during 2004-05, about 64 per cent of males and 45 per cent of the females were literate. The corresponding proportions, in the urban areas, were 81 per cent and 69 per cent.

• About 4 per cent of the rural households and 8 per cent of the urban households had no usually employed member.

• According to the usual status (ps+ss), about 56 per cent of rural males and 33 per cent of rural females belonged to the labour force (both employed and unemployed persons). The corresponding proportions in the urban areas were 57 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

• During the period 1999-2000 to 2004-05, the labour force participation rates (LFPRs), defined as the number of persons/person-days in the labour force per 1000 persons/person-days, according to usual status (ps+ss) increased by nearly 2 percentage points for males and about 3 percentage points for females, in the rural areas. In the urban areas, during that period, it increased by about 3 percentage points for both the males and females.

• About 42 per cent of the population in the country were usually employed. The proportion was 44 per cent in the rural and 37 per cent in the urban.

• The gender differential in the worker population ratio (WPR) was distinct: 55 per cent for males and 33 per cent for females in the rural areas, and 55 per cent for males and 17 per cent for females in the urban areas.  

• The daily status rates were slightly lower than the current weekly status rates, which, in turn, were slightly lower than the usual status rates.

• Between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, in the rural areas, work participation rate (WPR) in the usual status increased by about 2 percentage points for the males and by about 3 percentage points for the females. In the urban areas, the rates increased by about 3 percentage points for both the males and females.

• In rural India, the proportion of ‘all’ male workers engaged in the agricultural activities declined gradually from 81 per cent in 1977-78 to 67 per cent in 2004-05.  For ‘all’ female workers, the decline was less - from 88 per cent in 1977-78 to 83 per cent in 2004-05.

·        In urban India, the ‘trade, hotel and restaurant' sector engaged about 28 per cent of the male workers while ‘manufacturing’ and ‘ser­vices’ sectors accounted for nearly 24 and 21 per cent, respectively, of the usually employed males.  On the other hand, for urban females, ‘services’ sector accounted for the high­est proportion (36 per cent) of the total usually employed, followed by ‘manufacturing’ (28 per cent) and ‘agriculture’ (18 per cent). 

• The unemployment rate (number of person unemployed per 1000 persons in the labour force), according to usual status (ps+ss), was 17 in the rural areas and 45 in the urban areas. The unemployment rates for females are found to be higher than that for males, and highest among urban females.

• During the period 1999-2000 to 2004-05, the unemployment rate in terms of the usual status (ps+ss), remained almost the same for rural males and decreased by 1 percentage point for urban males, but increased by about 1 percentage point for females in both the rural and urban areas.

• In both the rural and urban areas, unemployment rate among the educated (secondary and above) was higher than that among those whose education level was lower than secondary.

• The proportion of usually employed females who were found not employed during the week preceding the date of survey was 17 per cent in rural India and nearly 9 per cent in urban India.  The corresponding percentages for usually employed males were 4 and 2 only. 

• In the age group 15 years and above, about 11 per cent of usually employed rural males and 6 per cent of usually employed urban males sought or were available for additional work.  The corresponding percentages for females were around 7 in both the rural and urban areas.

• About 5 to 9 per cent of the usually employed persons of different categories had reported availability for alternative work.

·        During the two years preceding the date of survey, about 1 per cent of the usually (ps) employed had changed their work status while about 7 (urban males) to 9 (rural females) per cent had changed their establishments.

·        The proportion of persons who changed their establishment is much less among those with education level higher secondary and above as compared to those with lower levels of education - be it in the rural or urban areas.

·        About 1 per cent of usual status (ps) workers reported change in their industry of work during the two years preceding the date of survey.

·        About 1 per cent of male workers and less than 1 per cent of female workers reported change in their occupation during the two years preceding the date of survey.