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Employment and unemployment: concepts, measurement and types

मराठीत स्पष्टीकरण

Poverty and unemployment · Part 2 / 2 · Fact-checked on 25 October 2026 · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

The labour force, LFPR, WPR and the unemployment rate; usual status (ps+ss), current weekly and current daily status; the Periodic Labour Force Survey from 2017 and its 2025 redesign with monthly and rural quarterly estimates; PLFS trends to 2023-24 including women's participation; open, disguised, seasonal, frictional, structural, cyclical and educated unemployment and underemployment; the unorganised sector and the e-Shram portal.

Each idea is explained first in Marathi (मराठी), ending with the English and Hindi exam terms, followed by the same point in exam English. UPSC Prelims is in English or Hindi, so understand it in Marathi and revise it in English.

पहिल्या भागात किती लोक गरीब आहेत ते पाहिले. आता प्रश्न: काम हवे असलेल्यांपैकी किती जणांना काम मिळते? हा भाग 'मोजणी कशी करतात' याबद्दल — कोण कामावर आहे, कोण काम शोधतो, आणि कोण श्रमशक्तीतच नाही. मग बेरोजगारीचे प्रकार, आणि शेवटी बहुतेक लोक जिथे काम करतात ते अनौपचारिक क्षेत्र. सरकारी योजना तिसऱ्या भागात. (→ English: labour force · हिन्दी: श्रम बल)

In exam EnglishPart 1 asked how many Indians are poor; Parts 2 and 3 ask how many of those who want work can find it, and what the state does when they cannot. This part deals with measurement. It explains how surveys sort people into the employed, the unemployed and those outside the labour force, the three ways of fixing a person's activity status, and the Periodic Labour Force Survey that now supplies India's job numbers every month. It then sorts unemployment into its types, because each type has a different cause and needs a different remedy, and ends with the informal workforce, where most Indians earn their living. Part 3 turns to policy: the rural employment guarantee, the labour codes and the main employment schemes.

आपल्या गावात 100 प्रौढ आहेत असे समजा: 55 काम करतात, 5 काम शोधतात, 40 शिकतात किंवा घरी असतात. काम करणारे + शोधणारे = 60 — हीच श्रमशक्ती. बेरोजगारी दर म्हणजे त्या 60 पैकी काम न मिळालेल्या 5 जणांचा वाटा, सुमारे 8.3 टक्के — एकूण 100 ने भागायचे नाही. कंटाळून शोध थांबवला तर ते हिशेबातून बाहेर जातात; दर कमी झाल्यासारखा दिसतो, पण नवे काम आलेले नसते. (→ English: labour force · unemployment rate · हिन्दी: श्रम बल · बेरोज़गारी दर)

In exam EnglishSurveys divide people into three groups. Those who work are employed; those without work who are seeking or available for it are unemployed; together they make up the labour force. Everyone else, such as full-time students, people attending only to domestic duties and the retired, is outside it. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) is the labour force as a share of the population; the worker population ratio (WPR) is the employed as a share of the population; and the unemployment rate is the unemployed as a share of the labour force, not of the whole population. Suppose a village has 100 adults: 55 work, 5 are looking for work and 40 study or stay at home. Its LFPR is 60 per cent, its WPR 55 per cent and its unemployment rate 5 out of 60, about 8.3 per cent. A falling rate can hide trouble: if discouraged job-seekers stop looking, they leave the labour force and the rate drops though no new jobs appear.

नेहमीची स्थिती म्हणजे मागचे पूर्ण वर्ष (365 दिवस) पाहून 'या व्यक्तीने बहुतेक काळ काय केले' हे विचारणे — ती प्रधान स्थिती. उदाहरणार्थ, एक मुलगी वर्षभर कॉलेजला गेली, पण कापणीच्या हंगामात महिनाभराहून जास्त शेतात मजुरी केली. प्रामुख्याने ती विद्यार्थिनी, पण 30 दिवसांहून अधिक काम केल्यामुळे दुय्यम स्थितीत कामगार म्हणूनही मोजली जाते. दोन्ही मिळून ps+ss. पूर्ण वर्ष पाहत असल्याने दीर्घकालीन बेरोजगारी पकडते. (→ English: usual status · हिन्दी: सामान्य स्थिति)

In exam EnglishWhether someone counts as employed depends on the period the survey asks about, and three are used. Under usual status the reference period is the 365 days before the survey. A person's principal status is the activity, working, seeking work or neither, that took the major part of that year. Many people, however, spend most of the year at home or in study yet do some paid or farm work for a few weeks. To count them, a person who did economic work for 30 days or more in the year is also treated as a worker in a subsidiary capacity. The combined measure, principal plus subsidiary status, is written ps+ss and is the one used for the headline annual figures. Because it looks across a whole year, it captures chronic, long-term joblessness rather than short breaks in work.

साप्ताहिक स्थितीत मागचे 7 दिवसच पाहतात: कोणत्याही एका दिवशी किमान एक तास काम केले तर 'कामावर आहे'. दैनिक स्थितीत आठवड्यातील प्रत्येक दिवस अर्ध्या दिवसाच्या हिशेबाने पाहतात — माणसे नव्हे, 'व्यक्ती-दिवस' मोजले जातात. आपल्या गावच्या शेतमजूर रामरावला आठवड्यात 3 दिवसच काम मिळाले, उरलेले 4 दिवस तो काम शोधत फिरला असे समजा: साप्ताहिक हिशेबात तो कामावर, दैनिक हिशेबात 4 दिवस बेरोजगारी. म्हणून दैनिक दर जास्त आणि नेहमीच्या स्थितीचा दर कमी. (→ English: current weekly status · current daily status · हिन्दी: वर्तमान साप्ताहिक स्थिति · वर्तमान दैनिक स्थिति)

In exam EnglishCurrent weekly status (CWS) shortens the window to the seven days before the survey. A person who worked for at least one hour on any day of that week is counted as employed; one who did not work even for an hour but sought or was available for work is unemployed. CWS therefore catches shorter spells of joblessness that a yearly view smooths over. Current daily status (CDS) goes further and records activity for each day of the reference week, in half-day units, so its result is a count of person-days rather than persons. Suppose a farm worker finds work on only three days of a week and looks for work on the other four: by CWS he is employed, but by CDS those four days count as days of unemployment. That is why the usual status rate is generally the lowest of the three and the daily status rate the highest; the table compares them.

Three ways of fixing activity status
Measure	Reference period	Counted as employed if	What it captures
Usual status (ps+ss)	365 days	worked for the major part of the year (ps), or for 30 days or more (ss)	Long-term unemployment; usually the lowest rate
Current weekly status (CWS)	Last 7 days	worked at least 1 hour on any day of the week	Shorter spells of unemployment
Current daily status (CDS)	Each day of the last 7 days	recorded day by day in half-day units (person-days)	Days without work; usually the highest rate

आधी रोजगाराचा हिशेब पाच वर्षांतून एकदाच यायचा — शेवटचा 2011-12 चा. पाच वर्षांतून एकदाच ताप तपासणाऱ्या डॉक्टरसारखे — मधे काय झाले ते कळत नाही. म्हणून एप्रिल 2017 पासून PLFS सुरू झाले: वर्षातून एकदा गाव आणि शहर दोन्हींसाठी मोठा अहवाल; शहरांत त्याच घरांना दर तीन महिन्यांनी पुन्हा विचारून तिमाही हिशेब. (→ English: Periodic Labour Force Survey · हिन्दी: आवधिक श्रम बल सर्वेक्षण)

In exam EnglishFor decades India's main source on jobs was the employment and unemployment survey of the National Sample Survey, held about once every five years in large rounds; the last of these covered 2011-12. Gaps of five years left policy without fresh numbers, so the National Statistics Office began the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017. It was built to give two kinds of results. Annual estimates, on both usual status and CWS, cover rural and urban India; the first report covered July 2017 to June 2018. Quarterly estimates, on CWS only, covered urban areas, where the same households were revisited each quarter so that change could be tracked. The PLFS thus moved job statistics from a snapshot taken twice a decade to a regular series, and its annual reports became the standard source for the ratios defined above.

जानेवारी 2025 पासून PLFS मोठे झाले — वर्षाला सुमारे 2.7 लाख घरे. आता दर महिन्याला संपूर्ण देशासाठी साप्ताहिक हिशेब, आणि दर तीन महिन्यांनी गावांसाठी आणि शहरांसाठी हिशेब येतो. 2017-18 ते 2023-24 दरम्यान कामासाठी पुढे येणाऱ्यांचे प्रमाण 49.8 वरून 60.1 टक्के झाले, बेरोजगारी दर 6.0 वरून 3.2 टक्क्यांवर आला. स्त्रियांमध्ये बदल सर्वात मोठा — 23.3 वरून 41.7 टक्के, बहुतेक गावांत. पण हिशेबात येणे वेगळे आणि चांगली मजुरी मिळणे वेगळे. (→ English: labour force participation rate · हिन्दी: श्रम बल भागीदारी दर)

In exam EnglishFrom January 2025 the PLFS was redesigned with a much larger sample, about 2.7 lakh households a year. It now publishes monthly CWS estimates of the LFPR, WPR and unemployment rate for India as a whole, quarterly estimates for rural as well as urban areas, and annual estimates as before. The annual reports up to 2023-24 show a marked change. For persons aged 15 and above on usual status, the LFPR rose from 49.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 60.1 per cent in 2023-24, the WPR from 46.8 to 58.2 per cent, and the unemployment rate fell from 6.0 to 3.2 per cent (PLFS, MoSPI, 2024). The largest shift was among women, whose LFPR went up from 23.3 to 41.7 per cent over the same years, mostly in rural areas. Female participation still lags far behind the male rate, and whether the new work is well paid is a separate question from whether it is counted.

चार एकर शेताला चार माणसे पुरेशी, पण घरचे सातही जण तिथेच काम करतात असे समजा. तिघे गेले तरी उत्पादन कमी होत नाही — म्हणजे ते तिघे काम करताना दिसतात, पण खरे तर त्यांची गरज नाही. हीच प्रच्छन्न बेरोजगारी; सर्वेक्षणात सगळे 'काम करतो' म्हणतात म्हणून ती हिशेबात दिसत नाही. कोरडवाहू गावांत कापणी आणि पुढची पेरणी यांच्यामध्ये काम नसते — ती हंगामी बेरोजगारी; तेव्हा अनेक जण शहरांकडे स्थलांतर करतात. (→ English: disguised unemployment · seasonal unemployment · हिन्दी: प्रच्छन्न बेरोज़गारी · मौसमी बेरोज़गारी)

In exam EnglishUnemployment comes in several kinds. Open unemployment is the plain case: people able and willing to work find none and are counted as unemployed. In disguised unemployment people seem employed but are not really needed. Suppose a family farm needs four workers and seven relatives work on it: three could leave with no fall in output, because their marginal product is close to zero. Economists long saw this as the typical form in Indian agriculture, where too many people share too little land, and it does not show up in surveys, since everyone on the farm reports working. Seasonal unemployment follows the calendar: in rain-fed villages there is little work between the harvest and the next sowing, and many people migrate for a few months to towns or to farms elsewhere in search of work.

नोकरी बदलताना मधे काही दिवस काम नसते — घर्षणात्मक बेरोजगारी, ही स्वाभाविक. हातमागाऐवजी गिरणीची यंत्रे आली की विणकराला जुन्या कौशल्यावर काम मिळत नाही — संरचनात्मक बेरोजगारी. मंदीत मागणी घटून कारखाने माणसे कमी करतात — चक्रीय बेरोजगारी. अभियांत्रिकी शिकलेला योग्य नोकरीची वाट पाहतो — सुशिक्षित बेरोजगारी. दिवसभर काम हवे असताना दोनच तास मिळते — अल्प रोजगार. आपल्याकडे पूर्ण बेकार लोकांपेक्षा अल्प रोजगार आणि कमी मजुरी जास्त आहे. (→ English: structural unemployment · underemployment · हिन्दी: संरचनात्मक बेरोज़गारी · अल्प-रोज़गार)

In exam EnglishOther types arise from how labour markets work. Frictional unemployment is the short gap while people move between jobs or search for their first one, and it exists even in a healthy economy. Structural unemployment is a lasting mismatch between the skills or locations of workers and the jobs on offer, as when machines replace an old craft or new industries need skills few workers have. Cyclical unemployment rises when demand falls in a downturn and eases in recovery. Educated unemployment describes young graduates who cannot find work suited to their training and may wait for it rather than take any job. Underemployment covers people who work, but fewer hours than they want, or at tasks well below their ability. In India open unemployment is modest, but underemployment and low-paid work are widespread, so the unemployment rate alone understates the problem; the second table sums up the types.

Types of unemployment
Type	Meaning	Example
Open	Able and willing to work but no work at all	A job-seeker with no work
Disguised	More people at work than needed; marginal product near zero	Seven family members on a farm that needs four
Seasonal	No work in part of the year	Rain-fed villages between harvest and sowing
Frictional	Short gap while changing or first finding a job	A worker between two jobs
Structural	Lasting mismatch of skills or location with jobs	A craft replaced by machines
Cyclical	Rises with a fall in demand in a downturn	Factory lay-offs in a recession
Educated	Graduates without work suited to their training	A graduate waiting for a suitable job
Underemployment	Working fewer hours than wanted or below ability	Two hours of work for someone who wants a full day

कारखाना, सरकारी कार्यालय अशा ठिकाणी करार, महिन्याचा पगार, पीएफ असतो — ते संघटित क्षेत्र. रस्त्याकडेची भाजीची गाडी, घरकाम करणारी बाई, बांधकाम मजूर, शेतमजूर — हे सगळे असंघटित क्षेत्र; लेखी करार नाही, पगारी रजा नाही. मालक नोंद ठेवत नाही म्हणून योजना यांच्यापर्यंत पोहोचणे कठीण. म्हणून 26 ऑगस्ट 2021 रोजी ई-श्रम पोर्टल: 16-59 वयाचे कामगार आधारसह नोंदणी करतात आणि त्यांना एक सार्वत्रिक खाते क्रमांक मिळतो. (→ English: unorganised sector · e-Shram · हिन्दी: असंगठित क्षेत्र · ई-श्रम)

In exam EnglishThe organised sector covers registered enterprises such as factories, government bodies and larger firms, where work usually comes with a contract, regular pay and social security. The unorganised sector covers the rest: small unregistered units, own-account work, farm labour, street vending, domestic work and much of construction. Most Indian workers are informally employed, without a written contract, paid leave or social security, and this includes many hired through contractors inside organised firms. Because no employer keeps their records, such workers are hard for welfare schemes to find. To build a national database, the Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the e-Shram portal on 26 August 2021: unorganised workers aged 16 to 59 register with Aadhaar and receive a Universal Account Number, so that benefits can reach them directly. Registrations passed 30 crore by December 2024 (PIB, 2024). The Code on Social Security, 2020, taught in Part 3, later named gig and platform workers in labour law.

एकूण पाहता: संकल्पना गुणोत्तरे देतात, तीन स्थिती 'कोण कामावर आहे' ते ठरवतात, PLFS आकडे देते. एखादा आकडा पाहिला की — कोणते मोजमाप, कोणता वयोगट, कोणते वर्ष हे विचारायचे. आजारानुसार औषध बदलते तसे बेरोजगारीच्या प्रकारानुसार उपाय बदलतो: गावातील हंगामी रिकामपणासाठी हमीचे काम, कौशल्य नसेल तर प्रशिक्षण, मंदीसाठी मागणी वाढवणे. ते उपाय तिसऱ्या भागात. (→ English: employment · unemployment · हिन्दी: रोज़गार · बेरोज़गारी)

In exam EnglishThese ideas fit together. The labour force concepts give the ratios, the three activity statuses decide who is counted as working, and the PLFS supplies the numbers on each measure, now every month. Any figure must therefore be read with its measure, its age group and its year: a usual status rate for persons aged 15 and above is not comparable with a weekly rate for one urban quarter. The types of unemployment explain why no single remedy fits: guaranteed manual work suits seasonal and disguised unemployment in villages, skilling addresses structural mismatch, and support for demand eases cyclical unemployment. The size of the informal workforce explains why social security has been so hard to deliver. Part 3 takes up these remedies: the rural employment guarantee and its 2025 replacement, the labour codes and the employment schemes.

Exam traps

The unemployment rate is the unemployed as a share of the labour force, not of the population. LFPR and WPR are shares of the population.
Usual status uses a 365-day reference period: ps = major part of the year; ss = economic work for 30 days or more. CWS uses 7 days, with one hour of work on any day enough to count as employed.
CDS counts person-days in half-day units, not persons. Of the three, the usual status rate is generally the lowest and the CDS rate the highest.
The PLFS began in 2017 (first annual report July 2017 – June 2018). Before the 2025 redesign its quarterly CWS estimates covered urban areas only; monthly CWS estimates and rural quarterly estimates began from 2025.
PLFS 2023-24 (usual status, age 15+): LFPR 60.1 per cent, WPR 58.2 per cent, unemployment rate 3.2 per cent; female LFPR 41.7 per cent, up from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18.
Disguised unemployment does not show up in the unemployment rate, because those affected report that they are working; their marginal product is close to zero.
Frictional unemployment exists even at full employment; structural unemployment is a long-term mismatch of skills or location, while cyclical unemployment follows the business cycle.
e-Shram (26 August 2021, Ministry of Labour and Employment) is for unorganised workers aged 16 to 59 and gives a Universal Account Number linked to Aadhaar.

Recap

Labour force = employed + unemployed (seeking or available for work); students, homemakers and the retired are outside it.
LFPR = labour force ÷ population; WPR = employed ÷ population; unemployment rate = unemployed ÷ labour force.
Usual status (365 days): principal status by major time, subsidiary status for 30 days or more of work; ps+ss is the headline annual measure.
CWS (7 days, one hour on any day) catches short spells; CDS (each day, half-day units) counts person-days and gives the highest rate.
The PLFS (NSO, from 2017) replaced the five-yearly surveys; since January 2025 it gives monthly CWS and rural plus urban quarterly estimates from a larger sample.
PLFS 2017-18 to 2023-24 (usual status, 15+): LFPR 49.8 to 60.1 per cent, unemployment rate 6.0 to 3.2 per cent, female LFPR 23.3 to 41.7 per cent.
Types: open, disguised, seasonal, frictional, structural, cyclical, educated unemployment and underemployment; India has modest open unemployment but much underemployment.
Most workers are informal; e-Shram (2021) registers unorganised workers aged 16 to 59 with a Universal Account Number.

Practice questions

Q1. In a village, 55 adults are working, 5 are seeking work and 40 are full-time students or homemakers. What is the unemployment rate?

5 per cent
About 8.3 per cent
About 9.1 per cent
60 per cent

Show answer

Answer: B. About 8.3 per cent

The labour force is 55 + 5 = 60, and the unemployment rate is 5 ÷ 60, about 8.3 per cent. 5 per cent wrongly divides by the whole population of 100; about 9.1 per cent wrongly divides by the employed (5 ÷ 55); 60 per cent is the labour force participation rate.

Q2. Consider the following statements about the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS):
1. Under current weekly status, a person who worked for at least one hour on any day of the reference week is counted as employed.
2. Under usual status, a person who did economic work for 30 days or more in the reference year is counted as a worker in subsidiary status.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Show answer

Answer: C. Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct: one hour on any day of the week is the CWS test, and 30 days or more of economic work in the year makes a person a subsidiary-status worker. So '1 only', '2 only' and 'Neither' are wrong.

Q3. Which of the following measures of activity status counts person-days rather than persons, and therefore usually gives the highest unemployment rate?

Usual principal status
Usual status (principal plus subsidiary)
Current weekly status
Current daily status

Show answer

Answer: D. Current daily status

Current daily status records each day of the reference week in half-day units, so it counts person-days and picks up idle days of people who work only part of the week. The two usual status measures look across 365 days and count persons, giving lower rates; current weekly status also counts persons and treats one hour of work in the week as employment.

Q4. Consider the following statements:
1. Before 2025, the PLFS gave quarterly estimates for both rural and urban areas.
2. From 2025, the PLFS publishes monthly estimates on current weekly status for India as a whole.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Show answer

Answer: B. 2 only

Statement 1 is wrong: before the 2025 redesign the quarterly CWS estimates covered urban areas only; rural quarterly estimates were added in 2025. Statement 2 is correct. So '1 only', 'Both' and 'Neither' are wrong.

Q5. According to the PLFS annual reports (usual status, persons aged 15 and above), which of the following best describes the change between 2017-18 and 2023-24?

LFPR rose and the unemployment rate fell
LFPR fell and the unemployment rate rose
Both LFPR and the unemployment rate rose
Female LFPR fell while male LFPR rose

Show answer

Answer: A. LFPR rose and the unemployment rate fell

LFPR rose from 49.8 to 60.1 per cent and the unemployment rate fell from 6.0 to 3.2 per cent. The second and third options get the direction of one or both wrong, and female LFPR did not fall: it rose from 23.3 to 41.7 per cent.

Q6. A situation in which more people work on a family farm than are needed, so that some could leave without any fall in output, is called

frictional unemployment
disguised unemployment
cyclical unemployment
open unemployment

Show answer

Answer: B. disguised unemployment

In disguised unemployment the marginal product of the extra workers is close to zero although they appear employed. Frictional unemployment is the short gap between jobs; cyclical unemployment comes from a downturn in demand; open unemployment means having no work at all, whereas these workers report that they are working.

Q7. Match the following types of unemployment with their descriptions:
A. Structural B. Seasonal C. Frictional D. Cyclical
1. No work between harvest and sowing
2. A short gap while moving between jobs
3. A lasting mismatch between workers' skills and available jobs
4. A rise in unemployment when demand falls in a recession
Select the correct code:

A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4
A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2
A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3

Show answer

Answer: A. A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4

Structural is a lasting skill mismatch (3), seasonal follows the farm calendar (1), frictional is the gap between jobs (2) and cyclical follows a fall in demand (4). The second code swaps structural and seasonal and misplaces the rest; the third swaps seasonal and frictional; the fourth swaps structural and cyclical.

Q8. With reference to the e-Shram portal, consider the following statements:
1. It was launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2021 to build a national database of unorganised workers.
2. Only workers aged 18 to 40 years can register on it.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

Statement 1 is correct: the portal was launched on 26 August 2021. Statement 2 is wrong: registration is open to unorganised workers aged 16 to 59. So '2 only', 'Both' and 'Neither' are wrong.

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Sources

National Statistics Office, MoSPI: Periodic Labour Force Survey, Annual Report July 2023 – June 2024 and press note (September 2024), with concepts and definitions; Changes in PLFS from January 2025 (2024) — https://www.mospi.gov.in
Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment: releases on the e-Shram portal (2021, December 2024) — https://pib.gov.in
The Code on Social Security, 2020 — https://www.indiacode.nic.in
Economic Survey, chapters on employment, jobs and skilling (recent editions) — https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/