The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is a key statistical concept/survey in India, launched by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in April 2017. It was created to provide more frequent and timely data on the labour market, replacing the quinquennial (five-yearly) Employment-Unemployment Surveys previously conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The PLFS was constituted based on the recommendation of a committee headed by Amitabh Kundu.
The survey's primary mechanism is to estimate three key employment and unemployment indicators: the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), the Worker-Population Ratio (WPR), and the Unemployment Rate (UR). It uses two reference periods to determine a person's activity status: the Usual Status (ps+ss), which considers the last 365 days preceding the survey, and the Current Weekly Status (CWS), which considers the last 7 days.
The PLFS has undergone a significant revamp starting from January 2025. The original objective of providing quarterly estimates only for urban areas has been expanded, with quarterly estimates now extended to rural areas as well. Furthermore, the NSO introduced monthly estimates of key indicators at the all-India level using the CWS approach. The annual reporting cycle has also shifted from the July-June period to the January-December calendar year to align with international standards. The sample size was also enhanced by approximately 2.65 times to improve data granularity and reliability.