The unemployment rate in the urban areas for all age groups rose to 10.3 per cent in October-December 2020 or the last quarter of the Calendar year ( CY). For the same period in 2019, the unemployment rate was 7.9 per cent, showed the latest periodic labour force survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO). During this period, the economic activities were assumed to be back on track and the fear among the citizens about the infection was substantially low. These numbers were relatively low compared to its previous quarters.
The unemployment rate is the percentage of the total labour force that is unemployed but actively seeking a job.
The unemployment rate for all ages in the urban areas stood at 13.3 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2020, the ninth Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed.
According to the study, the labour force participation rate in urban areas for all ages was 37.3 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2020, up from 37.2 per cent a year earlier. In the period July-September 2020, it was 37%.
The labour force participation rate is a measure of an economic workforce that is actively engaged in the labour market, either by working or looking for work in proportion to the total working-age population.
In 2017 NSO launched PLFS. Based on PLFS, a quarterly report is prepared to study indicators namely UR, Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), categorizing workers in employment and industry of work in Current Weekly Status (CWS).
The calculations in CWS gives an average picture of unemployment existing in a week or seven days during the survey period.
Current Weekly Status ( CWS) considers that person unemployed who did not work even for one hour on any day during the week but was willing or available for work at least for one hour on any day during the period.
PLO defines Labour force according to current weekly status (CWS) as “the number of persons either employed or unemployed on an average in a week of 7 days preceding the date of the survey”.
The worker population ratio was 33.5 per cent in October-December 2020, down from 34.2 percent corresponding to the same period last year. It was 32.1 per cent in July-September 2020.