Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS): notes for bank exams

At a glance

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is India's main source of data on employment and unemployment. The National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) conducts it. It began in April 2017 and was redesigned from January 2025, so it now also gives monthly all-India figures.

Key facts

Conducted by: NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
Launched: April 2017, replacing the older five-yearly employment–unemployment surveys
Revamp: new sample design from January 2025
Monthly bulletin: all-India, Current Weekly Status (CWS); the first covered April 2025 and came out in May 2025
Quarterly bulletin: rural and urban indicators (before 2025, quarterly data covered urban areas only)
Annual report: now for the calendar year, in both usual status and CWS
Latest (September 2026): unemployment rate 5.0% (age 15+, CWS), LFPR 55.5%, the 18th monthly bulletin

How it works

Three headline ratios:

Indicator	Formula
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)	Labour force (working + seeking/available for work) ÷ population
Worker Population Ratio (WPR)	Employed persons ÷ population
Unemployment Rate (UR)	Unemployed persons ÷ labour force

Note the denominators. LFPR and WPR are shares of the population. UR is a share of the labour force.

Two ways of measuring activity status:

Usual Status (ps+ss): the reference period is the last 365 days. It combines a person's principal activity status and any subsidiary work, which gives a picture of long-term or structural employment.
Current Weekly Status (CWS): the reference period is the last 7 days. A person is unemployed if they did not work for even one hour on any day of the week but sought or were available for work for at least one hour. CWS picks up short-term changes, which is why monthly figures use it.

Unemployment by CWS is usually higher than by usual status, because more people are counted as unemployed over a short window.

Timeline

2017: PLFS launched in April
2025: revamped design from January; first monthly bulletin (for April 2025) released in May 2025; quarterly estimates extended to rural areas
2026: September 2026 bulletin is the 18th monthly release

Recent developments

15 Oct 2026: The September 2026 monthly bulletin put the unemployment rate (age 15+, CWS) at 5.0%, 0.2 percentage points lower than a year earlier. LFPR rose to 55.5%.

Exam traps

PLFS is run by the NSO (MoSPI), not the Labour Bureau or CMIE.
CWS = 7 days, Usual Status = 365 days. The monthly figures use CWS.
UR is measured against the labour force, not the total population.
LFPR includes the unemployed. WPR counts only those working.
Annual PLFS reports used to run July–June. The revamped survey moves to calendar-year annual results.

Quick check

Q: What reference period does Current Weekly Status use? A: The last seven days.
Q: Which body conducts the PLFS? A: The National Statistics Office under MoSPI.
Q: What was the unemployment rate in the September 2026 PLFS bulletin? A: 5.0%.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)