According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, women in India are not adequately accounted for in the labour force. The government says the primary issue can be attributed to how Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for women is measured. It suggests that there is a need for an improved qualification of ‘work’ and that the surveys need to be redesigned.
The survey says that the number misses out on household work and women working on family farms in rural areas, which gives a skewed reality of the female workforce.
It identified three major measurement issues:
• Very broad categories which club tasks like farming, wood collection and poultry with domestic work. Breaking categories like these will significantly show an increase women work force.
• To categorise labour force status of women, the survey relied on a single question, instead of having more follow-up questions. This leaves no room to rectify any error in self reporting. There need to be couple of additional questions to check how a woman identifies her work.
• Narrow approach of limiting productive work to labour force participation – a woman working as a home maker, teaching her children and cooking, does not get counted in the workforce, however these improve households' standard of living.
Alarmingly, the country is seeing a constant decline in female workforce numbers. In 2021, the participation of female labour force was 19 per cent, drastically lower that the world average of 25.1 per cent.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) collects data on employment and unemployment through the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in the urban areas. In 2020-21, the estimated Worker Population Ratio for males and females aged 15 and above was 73.5 per cent and 31.4 per cent, respectively.
The government also states that including the correct proportion of women in the official labour force participation rate (LFPR) results in an augmented female LFPR of 46.2 per cent, which is significantly higher than the conventional definition's estimate of 32.5 per cent .
Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims at a 50 per cent female workforce by 2047.