Survey ID Number
IND_2004_NSS61-SCH10_v01_M
Title
National Sample Survey 2004-2005 (61st round) - Schedule 10 - Employment and Unemployment
Series Information
The National Sample Survey (NSS) was set up by the Government of India in 1950 to collect socio-economic data employing scientific sampling methods. The 61st round (July 2004-June 2005) of NSS was earmarked for survey on 'Household Consumer Expenditure' and 'Employment and Unemployment'. The survey on 'household consumer expenditure' and 'employment and unemployment' is the seventh in the series of quinquennial surveys on the subjects, the last one being conducted in the 55th round (1999-2000) of NSS.
The first quinquennial survey on employment - unemployment, carried out by the NSSO in the 27th round (September 1972 - October 1973), made a marked departure from the earlier employment surveys of NSSO in procedure and content. The concepts and procedures followed in this survey were primarily based on the recommendations of the 'Expert Committee on Unemployment Estimates' (1970). Since then, the five successive quinquennial surveys conducted in the 32nd, 38th, 43rd, 50th and 55th rounds have, more or less, followed an identical approach in the measurement of employment and unemployment. The basic approach in all these five quinquennial surveys have been the collection of data to generate the estimates of employment and unemployment according to the 'usual status' based on a reference period of one year, the 'current weekly status' based on a reference period of one week, and the 'current daily status' based on each day of the seven days preceding the date of survey. In order to reveal the multi-dimensional aspects of the employment-unemployment situation in India, information on several correlates were also gathered in these surveys. Sets of probing questions on some of these aspects have also been one of the basic features of these surveys. The seventh quinquennial survey on employment-unemployment is to be carried out along with the surveys on household consumer expenditure during the 61st round survey operations (July 2004 - June 2005) of the NSSO.
A Working Group was set up for the purpose of finalising the survey methodology and schedules of enquiry of the 61st round. Considering all the aspects of current data demand and usefulness of the survey results, the Group has suggested a few improvisations, additions and deletions in the content of the schedule of enquiry for the present survey. The major changes made in the schedule for employment and unemployment survey vis-à-vis the previous quinquennial survey are given below:
a) In the earlier rounds, a person, whose usual principal status was determined on the basis of the major time criteria, was considered as engaged in subsidiary economic activities if he/she had pursued economic activities for a relatively 'shorter time'. Though, in this definition of subsidiary economic activity, quantification of the duration of 'shorter time' was not done, nevertheless, had implicit hint that the 'shorter time' is not insignificant. The Working Group has now decided that a minimum of 30 days work in the subsidiary capacity, during the last 365 days, will be required for a person to be considered as having subsidiary economic activity.
b) Instead of recording the details for two usual subsidiary economic activities of all the members of the household, as was done in the 55th round, the details of only one usual subsidiary economic activity pursued for relatively more time will be recorded, when there is more than one subsidiary economic activity.
c) In the previous rounds, separate activity status code (code 96) was assigned for the 'beggars, prostitutes'. In the current round, no separate activity status code will be assigned to 'beggar, prostitutes', instead 'beggars, prostitutes' will be included in activity status 'others' (code 97).
d) Activity situation of a person will be judged irrespective of whether the production of goods and services have been carried out in the form of smuggling or not.
e) Certain probing questions to collect information on informal employment will be asked to all the workers, whether engaged in the usual principal status or in the subsidiary status, engaged in non-agricultural sector as well as in the agricultural sector as covered in the Economic Census 1998, i.e., excluding growing of crops, market gardening, horticulture (industry group 011 of NIC -98) and growing of crops combined with farming of animals (industry group 013 of NIC -98) of the agricultural sector.
f) To assess the quality of employment in terms of earning, two probing questions will be asked to those employed in self-employment status. These are 'do you regard the current earning from the self-employment as remunerative?' and 'what amount (Rs) per month would you regard as remunerative?'
g) For persons of age 15 to 29 years, information on 'whether receiving/received any vocational training' will be collected. Further, among those who have received or are receiving 'formal vocational training', information on 'source from where degree/diploma/certificate received', 'duration of training' and 'field of training' will be collected.
h) Information on 'voluntary participation without remuneration in production of goods and services' will be collected for those members of the household who are not workers, considering both principal and subsidiary status, as per existing production boundary followed by in the employment and unemployment survey of NSSO.
i) Instead of collecting information on skill, information on 'seeking or available or suitable for the type of occupation' will be collected for persons of age below 75 years who are either unemployed or are out of labour force in the usual principal status.
j) Separate industry codes are to be given for renting of building for residential and non-residential purposes.
k) As in the 55th round, information on current attendance in educational institution will be collected in this round for persons of age below 30 years. Besides, for those who are currently attending any educational institution, information on 'type of institution' will be collected.
l) In the 55th round, to get data on participation of persons in specified activities probing questions were put to females usually engaged in household chores while in the current round these questions will be asked to all the members of the household usually engaged in household chores.
m) Information on 'period of seeking/availability for work during the last 365 days' will be collected for all the persons of age 5 years and above. In the earlier quinquennial rounds, this information was collected for those who were unemployed in the usual principal status.
n) Migration particulars of the members of the sample household, which were collected in the 55th round, would not be collected in the current round.