NSSO Employment Survey Analysis

I was reading the news article today which hinted that there is a Job Crisis in the rural areas for women and they have lost 9.1 mn jobs in 2 years.  Another link to the article can be found here. The number seemed astonishingly high. The data from the NSSO survey is:

2009-10	Labour Force Participation Rate		Presently Unemployed
	Men	Women	Men	Women
Rural	548	208	11	5
Urban	556	128	17	9

2011-12	Labour Force Participation Rate		Presently Unemployed
	Men	Women	Men	Women
Rural	547	181	12	5
Urban	560	134	18	9

Interesting results can  be seen above –

1. The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has fallen down for women from 208 / thousand to 181 / thousand for the rural areas. This implies that lesser number of women are wanting to work as LFPR signifies number of people looking for work.
2. The unemployment rate for women has remained unchanged in both rural and urban areas. The unemployment rate for men has however increased in both rural as well as urban areas signifying the crisis is for men and not women.

Let us analyze the data in millions –

2009-10	Projected Population (Mn)		Labour Force Participation (Mn)		Presently Unemployed (Mn)
	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
Rural	400.8	379.1	232.2	83.3	4.5	2
Urban	164.7	148.3	102.2	21.3	3.1	1.5

2011-12	Projected Population (Mn)		Labour Force Participation (Mn)		Presently Unemployed (Mn)
	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
Rural	423.9	400.9	236	74.2	5	2.2
Urban	183.8	165.5	111.8	25	3.6	1.6

Interesting results can  be seen above –

1. The number of women desirous of working has fallen from 104.6 mn in 2009-10 to 99.2 mn in 2011-12.
2. The total unemployment for men has increased from 7.6 mn in 2009-10 to 8.6 mn in 2011-12 as compared to women unemployment at 3.5 mn to 3.8 mn during the same time. Ie. Men unemployment increased by 1 mn as compared to women’s increase in unemployment by 0.3 mn.
3. Men are 3.33 times unemployed than women.
4. Total unemployed women in both rural as well as urban areas is 3.8 mn (2.2 rural + 1.6 urban), then how come 9.1 mn rural women have lost jobs as stated in the news reports?

Do feel free to comment and let me know for whom is the job crisis for?

__________

Sources:

1. Key Indicators of Employment and Unemployment in India (2009-10): NSS 66th Round – Page 20 and 21.
2. Key Indicators of Employment and Unemployment in India (2011-12): NSS 68th Round – Page 26 and 27.
3. Usual Principal Status approach data has been used in the analysis above.

Home Page: Stand Up for a Cause…