New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS): Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in India’s urban areas among persons of age 15 years and above has risen to 50.4 per cent in the October–December quarter in 2024 -- from 49.9 per cent in the same quarter of the previous year, reflecting an increase in employment in the country, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Tuesday.

LFPR for males of age 15 years and above in urban areas increased to 75.4 per cent during October-December period, from 74.1 per cent during the same quarter in 2023, reflecting overall increasing trend in male LFPR.

LFPR among females of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased to 25.2 per cent during the quarter from 25 per cent in the same period of the preceding year.

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which is another indicator of employment, also went up in urban areas among persons of age 15 years to 47.2 per cent in Oct-Dec, 2024 from 46.6 period in the same quarter of 2023, according to the government data.

WPR for males of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased to 70.9 per cent during the quarter from 69.8 per cent in the same period of the previous year, reflecting an overall increasing trend in male WPR.

The figures also show that the unemployment rate (UR) in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and above decreased from 6.5 per cent during October-December, 2023 to 6.4 per cent during October-December, 2024.

UR among males of age 15 years and above remained the same at 5.8 per cent during October-December, 2023 and October-December, 2024 while UR among females of age 15 years and above decreased from 8.6 per cent to 8.1 per cent during this period.

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.