Quarterly Employment Survey (QES)

• 28 Sep 2022

For Prelims: All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES), Quarterly Employment Survey, Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), International Labour Organization’s

For Mains: Government’s surveys and methods to obtain employment data

Why in News?

Recently, the Fourth Round (January-March, 2022) of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), part of All India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey (AQEES), was released by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment.

What are the Key Findings of QES 2022?

• Overall Employment:
  • An estimated total of 3.18 crore workers were engaged in 5.31 lakh establishments during the 4th round, compared to a total of 3.14 crores in the 3^rd quarter. 
• Sector Wise Figures:
  • Manufacturing sector: 38.5%
  • Education: 21.7%
  • Information Technology /Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): 12%
  • Health sector: 10.6%
• Size of the Organisations:
  • In terms of number of workers, an estimated 80% of the establishments engaged 10 to 99 workers.
    • The figure increases to 88% if establishments with 10 or more workers are considered.
    • About 12% of the establishments reported less than 10 workers.
  • Only 1.4% of the establishments reported at least 500 workers.
    • Such large establishments were mostly in the IT/ BPO sector and in the health sector.
• Female Participation:
  • Female workers participation reported a marginal increase from 31.6% in the 3^rd quarter to 31.8% in the 4^th quarter report.
  • Sector Wise Participation:
    • Health: 52%
    • Education: 44%
    • Financial Services: 41%
    • IT/BPO: 36%
  • It is noteworthy that in Financial Services, females far outnumber males among self-employed persons.

What is the AQEES?

• The AQEES has been taken up by the Labour Bureau to provide frequent (quarterly) updates about the employment and related variables of establishments, in both organised and unorganised segments of nine selected sectors.
• There are two components under AQEES:
  • Quarterly Employment Survey (QES): It provides the employment estimates for the establishments employing 10 or more workers in the organised segment in 9 sectors.
    • The 9 sectors are Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation and Restaurants, IT/BPO, Financial Service Activities.
  • Area Frame Establishment Survey (AFES): It covers the unorganised segment (with less than 10 workers) through a sample survey.

What is the Difference between QES & Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)?

• While the QES provides a demand-side picture, the National Sample Survey or Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives the supply side picture of the labour market.
• Also, PLFS is conducted by the National Statistical Organization (NSO), MoSPI (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation).

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q. Which of the following brings out the ‘Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers’? (2015)

(a) The Reserve Bank of India
(b) The Department of Economic Affairs
(c) The Labour Bureau
(d) The Department of Personnel and Training

Ans: (c)

Exp:

• Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) is an index designed to measure a change, over time, in prices of a given basket of goods and services consumed by a defined population (i.e. Industrial Workers).
• CPI-IW is compiled by Labour Bureau, an attached office under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• The current series of CPI-IW (base 2016 = 100) is compiled for 88 selected centres in the country. The All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers is the weighted average of these 88 centre indices.
• These centres have been selected on the basis of industrial importance in the country in the first instance and then distributed among different states in proportion to the industrial employment in the state subject to maximum allotment of 5 centres in a state to a sector.
• Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

Source: PIB