Unemployment among women increased in first quarter, shows PLFS data

PLFS data shows it rose to 9% from 8.5% in urban areas

The jobless rate for women in urban areas worsened during the first quarter (April-June) this financial year, showing the increased barriers for women looking for work, an analysis of the latest quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed.

The data shows the women unemployment rate increased in urban areas to 9 per cent in April-June (Q1) from 8.5 per cent in the preceding quarter.

The increase in the unemployment rate was accompanied by a fall in the female labour force to 25.2 per cent from 25.6 per cent during the quarter.

This implies despite fewer women looking for work, labour markets were not able to create enough jobs for them.

 

 

The data shows the fall in the job rate was primarily due to the decline in self-employment, which includes working as an own-account worker or as a household help. 

The share of women working as self-employed declined to 40 per cent in Q1 from 41.3 per cent in the preceding quarter, while the share of women working as casual labourers declined to 6 per cent from 6.5 per cent during the corresponding time period. 

“The PLFS data shows the extent of women looking for work and who were able to find work during this time. It covers both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. A fall in the share of women working as own-account workers primarily implies that the opportunities in the vast informal sector are declining, as seen in the latest unincorporated enterprises data as well,” said a labour economist requesting anonymity. 

Meanwhile, the latest data, released by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Tuesday, showed the share of women in the formal sector saw an increase during this quarter as compared to the Q1FY24. 

Of the 3.01 million new subscribers who joined the social-security organisation during the first quarter, the number of women subscribers increased to 27.3 per cent (821,000) as compared to 26.4 per cent (784,600) in the same quarter last financial year. 

“The formal sector is quite small in the country and the EPFO is reflective of a very small proportion of the labour market. The number of fresh women subscribers would have increased under the EPFO, but that does not give the true picture. Anyway, the labour force participation for women is lower in urban areas,” the economist added. 



NPS saw 64,799 fresh subscribers in June: NSO 

As many as 64,799 fresh subscribers joined the National Pension System (NPS) in June, with state government employees constituting nearly half of these subscribers, latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday showed. Of the total subscribers, 33,586 subscribers belonged to the state governments, while 14,093 subscribers belonged to the central government. 
 

On the other hand, 17,120 subscribers belonged to the corporate segment during the month.

The corporate component of the scheme is voluntary in nature and includes people working in the public sector organisations, private limited companies or public sector banks among others. The Union government has mandated the NPS for all its new employees, hence, this can be used as a proxy to gauge fresh recruitments at the central level. However, since a few states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab, had announced a return to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), thereby abandoning NPS, it cannot be used as an exact metric to gauge hirings at the state level. 

An age wise analysis showed that the share of fresh subscribers belonging to the 18-28 age group stood at 43.2 per cent  (27,986) during the month. This is crucial as subscribers belonging to this age group are usually first timers in the job market and thus reflects its robustness.  

Managed by the PFRDA, the NPS is designed on a defined contribution basis. Here, both the subscriber and the employer contribute an equal amount to a person’s account. It was made mandatory for all new central government employees from January 1, 2004, except the armed forces.