Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for all persons

WPR in usual status was 39 per cent. Rural WPR (41 per cent) was higher than urban WPR (35 per cent). In both rural and urban areas, female WPRs were considerably lower than male WPRs: while male WPR was nearly 55 per cent in rural areas, it was 26 per cent for females and urban male WPR was nearly 54 per cent compared to 14 per cent of urban female WPR.

WPR for persons of age 15-59 years

WPR for persons of age 15-59 years in the usual status was 58 per cent at the all-India level. WPR in rural areas was 62 per cent and in urban areas it was 51 per cent. Among the four segments of the population WPR, for rural male was the highest (83 per cent) followed by urban male (79 per cent), rural female (39 per cent) and it was the lowest for urban female (20 per cent).

Unemployment Rate (UR) for all persons

UR in the usual principal status (PS) was nearly 3 per cent. Compared to the UR observed in the rural areas, UR in urban areas was higher: 2 per cent in rural areas and 4 per cent in urban areas. Female UR in urban areas was the highest (nearly 7 per cent) followed by urban male (3 per cent). In rural areas, URs for both male and female were nearly at the same level (2 per cent).

UR for persons of age 15-59 years

In the usual status (adjusted), URs for persons of age 15-59 years was at the same level as that for all the persons, nearly 2 per cent at the all-India level. Moreover, for all the four segments of the population, UR for persons of age 15-59 years was also found to be of the same order as that of all persons: nearly 2 per cent each for rural male and female, 3 per cent for urban male and 6 per cent for urban female.

Industrial Distribution of Workers According to Usual Status

In rural areas, nearly 63 per cent of the male usual status workers were engaged in the agricultural sector while in the secondary and tertiary sectors nearly 19 per cent and 18 per cent of the male workers were engaged. There was a higher dependence of female workers on agricultural sector: nearly 79 per cent of them were engaged in agricultural sector while secondary and tertiary sectors shared 13 per cent and 8 per cent of the female workers, respectively.

The industrial distribution of the usual status workers in the urban areas was distinctly different from that of rural areas. In urban areas the share of the tertiary sector was dominant followed by that of secondary sector while agricultural sector engaged only a small proportion of total workers for both male and females. It is seen that in urban areas, nearly 59 per cent of male workers and 53 per cent of the female workers were engaged in the tertiary sector. The secondary sector employed nearly 35 per cent of the male and 33 per cent of the female workers. The share of urban workforce in agriculture was nearly 6 per cent of male and 14 per cent for female workers.

Distribution of usual status workers according to employment status

Employed persons are categorized into three broad activity groups according to their status of employment. These broad groups are: (i) self-employed, (ii) regular wage/salaried employees and (iii) casual labour. Among the three statuses in employment, at the all-India level in the rural areas, self-employment had the dominant share (nearly 54 per cent) in usual status workforce, while the share of casual labour stood at 39 per cent and the rest (7 per cent) of the workforce was regular wage/salaried employees. In the urban areas, the share of self-employment and regular wage/salaried employees in the total usual status workforce was 41 per cent each and the rest (18 per cent) was casual labour.

In both rural and urban areas, the share of female in regular wage/salaried employees was lower than that shared by males: in rural areas, nearly 9 per cent of the male workforce and 4 per cent of the female workforce was regular wage/salaried employees, whereas in urban areas 39 per cent of the female workforce and 42 per cent of the male workforce was regular wage/salaried employees.

Share of casual labour in female usual status workforce was higher than that of males in both rural and urban areas: in rural areas, nearly 38 per cent of the male workforce and 40 per cent of the female workforce was casual labour, whereas in urban areas 17 per cent of the male workforce and 20 per cent of the female workforce was casual labour.