Govt launches monthly unemployment tracker, first data to be out on May 15

The first set of monthly unemployment data will be released on May 15 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, a government senior official said on Monday.

The monthly data for January, February, and March will be released on May 15. “This is the first time we are doing it. We just wanted to have internal consistency checks,” the official said on the sidelines of an event, requesting anonymity.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey is the official data related to the country’s jobs scenario, detailing numbers such as labour force participation, unemployment rate, etc. Currently, the data for rural India is available annually, while it is quarterly for urban areas.


After the release of the first set of data, the government plans to make it into a monthly activity from there, wherein data on unemployment will be put out within 45 days, the official said.

According to economists, in absence of monthly PLFS, data from Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority are often used as proxies.

“Monthly PLFS is a step towards that only. Because up till now there were other monthly releases but they were not representative. So, ours will be statistically robust, statistically representative. This will help fill up that gap,” the official said.