Measurement of Unemployment in India

 

  • There are three measures or estimates of unemployment. These are developed by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). They are:
    • Usual Status Unemployment
      • This measure estimates the number of persons who remained unemployed for a major part of the year.
      • This measure gives the lowest estimates of unemployment
    • Weekly Status Unemployment
      • The estimate measures unemployment with respect to one week.
      • A person is said to be unemployed if he is not able to work even for an hour during the survey period.
      • In other words according to this estimate, a person is said to be employed for the week, even if he/she is employed only for a day during that week
    • Current Daily Status Unemployment
      • It considers the activity status of a person for each day of the preceding seven days. The reference period here is a day.
      • If a person did not find work on a day or some days during the survey week, he/she is regarded as unemployed
      • Normally if a person works for four hours or more during a day, he or she is considered as employed for the whole day.
      • The daily status unemployment is considered to be a comprehensive measure of unemployment