Measures of Labour Force Participation and Utilization

The choice of the best measures of labour force, work force and unemployment has been the subject of intense debate in the formulation of employment strategies and preparation of plan documents. A new set of measures based on a concept of Modified Current Weekly Status (MCWS) are suggested in this paper which we believe would be better suited for many purposes than those currently in use. In addition new measures are also suggested for labour time utilisation and underemployment. These measures have been computed by using the data sets of the last three quinquennial rounds of surveys on employment-unemployment undertaken by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and a comparison with the existing measures has been included in the paper. The principal aim of the paper is to suggest new ways of analyzing labour force data by retaining the identity of the individuals so as to relate the labour force behavior with other socioeconomic characteristics.[NCEUS WP NO 1]