India’s unique jobs crisis

Subject: Economy

Section: Unemployment

India has “too many people” in agriculture and the inability to move surplus labour from farms constitutes a major policy failure of successive governments.
Overall, between 1993-94 and 2018-19, agriculture’s share in India’s workforce came down from 61.9% to 41.4% based on data from the National Statistical Office’s Periodic Labour Force (previously known as ‘employment and unemployment’) Surveys

Kuznets Curve

Kuznets Curve is used to demonstrate the hypothesis that economic growth initially leads to greater inequality, followed later by the reduction of inequality. The idea was first proposed by American economist Simon Kuznets.

Kuznets Process

It is the movement of labour from farms – to higher value-added non-farm activities, specifically manufacturing and modern services

What is the Periodic Labour Force Survey?

Considering the importance of the availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, the National Statistical Office (NSO) launched the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:

To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate) in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the CWS.
To estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both usual Status and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

National Statistical Office (NSO)

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) merged with the Central Statistical Office (CSO) to form the National Statistical Office (NSO).
NSO was first envisaged by Rangarajan Commission to implement and maintain statistical standards and coordinate statistical activities of Central and State agencies as laid down by the National Statistical Commission (NSC).
NSO would be headed by Secretary (Statistics and Programme Implementation).
CSO coordinates the statistical activities in the country and also evolves statistical standards.
NSSO is responsible for the conduct of large scale sample surveys in diverse fields on an all India basis.
It is the statistical wing of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

NSO is mandated with the following responsibilities-

Acts as the nodal agency for planned development of the statistical system in the country,
Lays down and maintains norms and standards in the field of statistics, involving concepts and definitions, methodology of data collection, processing of data and dissemination of results.
Prepares national accounts as well as publishes annual estimates of national product, government and private consumption expenditure, capital formation, savings, estimates of capital stock and consumption of fixed capital.
Maintains liaison with international statistical organizations, such as the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), etc.
Compiles and releases the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) every month in the form of ‘quick estimates’ and conducts the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI)
Organizes and conducts periodic all-India Economic Censuses and follow-up enterprise surveys.
It has conducted the first Time Use Survey (TUS) in India during January to December 2019.