New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS): The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in India's urban areas among persons aged 15 years and above has increased from 48.8 per cent during April-June, 2023 to 50.1 per cent in April-June, 2024, reflecting an increase in employment in the country, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Friday.

The LFPR for males of age 15 years and above in urban areas increased from 73.5 per cent during April-June, 2023 to 74.7 per cent during April-June, 2024, reflecting the overall increasing trend in male employment.

The LPFR for females of age 15 years and above in urban areas also increased from 23.2 per cent during April-June last year to 25.2 per cent during April–June this year.

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which is another indicator of employment, also went up in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and above from 45.5 per cent during April-June, 2023 to 46.8 per cent in April-June, 2024.

The WPR for males of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased from 69.2 per cent in April-June, 2023 to 70.4 per cent during April-June, 2024 reflecting the overall increasing trend in male WPR.

The WPR for females of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased from 21.1 per cent in April-June, 2023 to 23 per cent during April-June, 2024 reflecting the overall increasing trend in female WPR.

The figures also showed that the unemployment rate (UR) in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and above was 6.6 per cent during April-June, 2024.

The unemployment rate among males of age 15 years and above decreased from 5.9 per cent during April-June, 2023 to 5.8 per cent in April-June, 2024 while the unemployment rate among females of age 15 years and above decreased from 9.1 per cent in April-June, 2023 to 9 per cent in April–June, 2024.

The Ministry said that a rotational panel sampling design has been used in urban areas for the collection of the data.

In this rotational panel scheme, each selected household in urban areas is visited four times, in the beginning with 'First Visit Schedule' and thrice periodically later with a 'Revisit Schedule'.

The scheme of rotation ensures that 75 per cent of the first-stage sampling units are matched between two consecutive visits.

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

The first objective of PLFS is 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 'Current Weekly Status'. The second objective is to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both 'Usual Status' and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.