PLFS and ASUSE 2025 – Labour Market and Informal Enterprise Trends

The latest PLFS and ASUSE 2025 reports provide new insights into employment, informal enterprises, productivity, and labour market trends. The National Statistics Office (NSO) has released two new reports, Labour Market Dynamics in Million-plus Cities and Urban Unincorporated Enterprise Landscape: ASUSE 2025, providing the first comprehensive statistical profile of employment and informal enterprises across India’s 46 million-plus cities. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). Introduced in 2017, it replaced the earlier Employment-Unemployment Surveys to provide more frequent and reliable labour market data. Objectives Estimate employment and unemployment indicators Measure labour force participation in rural and urban areas Generate annual and quarterly labour market statistics Support evidence-based policymaking on employment and skill development Key Labour Market Indicators PLFS measures several important indicators: Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): Percentage of the population that is either employed or actively seeking work. Worker Population Ratio (WPR): Percentage of the population that is employed. Unemployment Rate (UR): Percentage of the labour force that is unemployed but actively seeking work. Current Weekly Status (CWS) and Usual Status (US): Two different reference periods used to estimate employment and unemployment. PLFS has become India’s principal source of official labour market statistics. Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) is another flagship survey conducted by the NSO. It covers unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises, excluding construction, and provides information on: Employment generation Number of enterprises Gross Value Added (GVA) Productivity Wages and emoluments Ownership patterns ASUSE primarily includes Manufacturing units, Trade establishments and Service enterprises. Since the informal sector contributes significantly to India’s employment and urban economy, ASUSE serves as an important source of policy inputs for MSMEs, urban development, and labour reforms. Key Findings from PLFS 2025 The report presents labour market estimates for persons aged 15 years and above across India’s 46 cities with million-plus population. Improving Labour Market Indicators The survey indicates steady improvements in urban labour market conditions. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in million-plus cities stood at 52.4%, slightly higher than 52.1% in other urban areas. Worker Population Ratio (WPR) reached 49.8%, compared to 49.6% in other urban centres. Unemployment Rate (UR) under the Usual Status declined to 4.9%, broadly comparable with the national urban average of 4.8%. The report notes that unemployment in million-plus cities has shown a steady decline since 2017-18, reflecting improving labour market conditions. Higher Female Participation One of the most notable findings is the improvement in women’s participation. The female Worker Population Ratio increased from 17.9% in 2017-18 to 25.5% in 2025, an increase of 7.6 percentage points, exceeding the improvement recorded for men. The survey also reports that million-plus cities have a lower proportion of youth (15–29 years) who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) than other urban areas. Nature of Employment Employment in large cities is characterised by greater formalisation. According to the report: 58.5% of workers were engaged in regular wage or salaried employment, compared to 42.9% in other urban areas. Casual labour accounted for only 6.3% of employment, indicating relatively stable employment opportunities in larger cities. Workers in million-plus cities also recorded higher average hours of work than workers in other urban areas. Key Findings from ASUSE 2025 The ASUSE report provides the first city-level estimates for India’s informal non-agricultural sector. Scale of the Informal Economy The survey estimates that India’s 46 million-plus cities account for: 39 lakh unincorporated establishments. 1.98 crore informal workers. Nearly 13% of all informal establishments in the country. Around 16% of total informal employment. Approximately 21% of Gross Value Added (GVA) generated by India’s unincorporated non-agricultural sector. These cities span 17 States and 1 Union Territory, highlighting the growing importance of urban informal enterprises. Cities with the Highest Informal Employment Among million-plus cities: Greater Hyderabad recorded the highest number of informal workers (15.7 lakh). Kolkata had the largest number of unincorporated enterprises (8.84 lakh). Delhi, Bengaluru, Surat, Jaipur and Greater Mumbai also emerged as major informal employment centres. Together, the six largest cities accounted for nearly 40% of all informal workers across the country’s million-plus cities. Women in the Informal Sector Women constituted approximately 52 lakh workers, representing 26% of the informal workforce in these cities. However, female participation varied significantly across cities: Greater Visakhapatnam recorded the highest female workforce participation at 42.5%. Surat followed with 41.4%. Srinagar recorded the lowest female participation at 10.5%, followed by Varanasi (12.1%). These differences reflect variations in local economic structures, industrial composition, and social factors. Productivity and Wages Large cities also displayed higher productivity. According to ASUSE: Pimpri-Chinchwad, Greater Hyderabad, and Delhi recorded the highest Gross Value Added (GVA) per worker. Jaipur reported the highest average annual emoluments per hired worker at Rs. 2.33 lakh, followed by Greater Hyderabad (Rs. 2.14 lakh). On average, hired workers across the 46 cities received annual emoluments of around Rs. 1.51 lakh. The findings indicate considerable differences in productivity and wage levels across urban India. Policy Implications The two reports offer valuable insights for policymaking. Key policy priorities include: Promoting quality employment in urban areas Strengthening MSMEs and informal enterprises Increasing women’s labour force participation Enhancing urban skill development programmes Improving access to formal finance and social security for informal workers Supporting productivity enhancement in urban enterprises The reports also provide an important statistical foundation for initiatives linked to Viksit Bharat, urban planning, and employment generation.