Periodic Labour Force Survey to expand coverage to capture unpaid household, volunteers from January 2027

The Periodic Labour Force Survey will include unpaid household activities and digital platform workers.

The statistics ministry said on Friday that new questions will be introduced to measure own-use production of goods, unpaid household and caregiving activities, volunteer work and unpaid trainee work. The questions will be asked during the first visit in both rural and urban areas and will cover people aged 15 years and above, enabling annual reporting on these activities.

The changes are expected to provide a more comprehensive assessment of work beyond conventional employment, improve data availability on unpaid and non-market activities, and offer a broader understanding of individuals' contributions to household and community well-being, the ministry said. The survey will introduce an additional binary question to identify households in which any member has engaged in digital platform work during the specified reference period. The question will be asked in both rural and urban households to identify eligible households for a new stratum of sub-sample (SSS) based on digital platform workers.

A substantial proportion of women spend considerable time on unpaid household and caregiving activities like cooking, cleaning, childcare and care of elderly, as per to the concept note released.