India (1)

Title of the survey

Employment market information programme.

Organization responsible

Ministry of Labour, Directorate General of Employment and Training.

Periodicity of the survey

Quarterly for employment by industry, branch and sex. Biennial for employment by occupation and education, in alternate years for public and private sectors.

Objectives of the survey

to provide a method by which to measure continuously changes in the level of employment at the level of states and the whole country;
to provide Employment Officers with more facts to enable them to decide more accurately the type of persons in short supply;
to make available information which is needed to improve and add to the services offered by the National Employment Service; and
to provide data which is required to watch the progress of five-year plans in creating more employment.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment.

Reference period

Employment on the last days of the quarters ending in March, June, September and December. Information on occupation and education as on 30 September.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The following small states or union territories are not covered: Arunchal Pradesh, Sikkim, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.

Industrial

All private sector activities, excluding agriculture, and all public sector activities excluding the defence forces.

Establishments

All types of public sector establishments, and private sector establishments with ten or more persons employed, except for Bombay and Calcutta, where establishments with 25 or more persons employed are covered.

Persons

All full-time paid employees and working proprietors, partners and directors who work full-time for the establishment.

Occupations

All occupations.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Data refer to full-time employees (wage earners and salaried employees), and working proprietors, partners and directors who work full-time for the establishment. Employees exclude: apprentices; piece workers; home workers; part-time workers; young workers below a certain age; unpaid family workers; and persons temporarily or indefinitely laid off. The following categories of workers are separately identified in the occupational data collected biennially:

working proprietors;
working directors; and
commission agents;

Earnings

Not relevant.

Wage/salary rates

Not relevant.

Hours of work

Not relevant.

Classifications

Industrial

Since March 1989, the employment data have been classified according to the National Industrial Classification, revised 1987, which is linked to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Rev. 3, 1990. Prior to March 1989, the data were classified according to the 1970 version of the National Industrial Classification, which is linked to ISIC, Rev. 2, 1968. Data for the public sector are also classified according to branch: central government, state government, quasi government (central), quasi government (state), and local bodies.

Occupational

The biennial data on employment by occupation and education are classified according to the National Classification of Occupations, 1968, which is linked to the International Standard Classification of Occupations, 1968 (ISCO-68).

Others

The survey data are also classified according to:

size of establishment, for the private sector only (larger establishments (25 or more employees) or smaller establishments (10 to 24 employees);
type of ownership (public or private);
region; and
sex.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The reporting unit is the establishment, i.e. any office or place where any industry, trade, business or occupation is carried on.

Survey universe / sample frame

This consists of the Employers' Register maintained by Employment Exchanges. It includes all public sector establishments, and all private sector establishments employing ten or more persons (about 260,000 establishments). The Employers' Register is continuously up-dated by local enumeration.

Sample design

The survey is based on a complete enumeration of establishments in the survey universe.

Field work

Data collection

Data on total employment are collected each quarter, in prescribed returns for establishments for which participation is compulsory, and by mailed questionnaires for those whose participation is not compulsory.

Survey questionnaire

Two forms are used for the survey: one for the quarterly data collection and the other for the biennial data collection. The form for the quarterly survey collects information on the following:

identification particulars of the employer and nature of business;
total number of persons on the payrolls of the establishment, by sex, on the last working day of the previous quarter and the quarter covered by the report;
particulars of vacancies:
- number of vacancies occurred and notified during the quarter;
- number of vacancies filled during the quarter through (i) Employment Exchanges or (ii) other sources;
- number of vacancies remaining unfilled at the end of the quarter due to shortage of suitable applicants;
reasons for not notifying all vacancies to Employment Exchanges, if any.

The biennial form collects the following:

identification particulars of the employer and nature of business;
total number of persons on payrolls of the establishment on a particular date;
number of employees in each occupation, along with exact name of occupation, by sex, and the approximate number of vacancies in each occupation expected during the next calendar year due to retirement, expansion or reorganization.

Substitution of sampling units

Not relevant.

Data processing and editing

The data are processed both manually and by computer. Manual coding takes place at the Employment Exchanges followed by verification at the State and national levels. Replies are edited during fieldwork by the Employment Exchanges. Establishments are contacted by telephone or mail, or by personal visits in order to follow-up on queries. The data are checked for consistency and for abnormal increases or decreases over the previous period. In the case of missing data from non-responding establishments, employment data are imputed on the basis of the previous quarter or year.

Types of estimates

Total employment.

Construction of indices

None.

Weighting of sample results

Not relevant.

Adjustments

Non-response

Not relevant.

Other bias

Not available.

Use of benchmark data

None.

Seasonal variations

None.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

The Employers' Register is continuously updated by the Employment Exchanges, but nevertheless it may be incomplete.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not relevant.

Non-response rate

In terms of establishments, non-response is about 20 per cent.

Non-sampling errors

Not analyzed.

Conformity with other sources

No comparisons are made with data from other sources.

Available series

Published tables include the following:

Number of establishments:
- by public and private sectors and by industry (three-digit level of the National Industrial Classification (NIC) 1970);
- by region or State.
Employment:
- by branch in the private sector and by size of establishment in the private sector, and by region or State;
- by branch in the public sector and by size of establishment in the private sector, by industry (three-digit level of NIC 1970).
Women employed:
- by branch in the public sector and by size of establishment in the private sector, by industry (three-digit level of the NIC 1970);
- by region or State (private sector only).

History of the survey

The survey began in 1961. From 31 March 1961, it covered all public sector establishments and non-agricultural establishments in the private sector employing 25 persons or more under the provision of the Employment Exchanges (compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959, Rules, 1960. As from March 1966, coverage was extended on a voluntary basis to non-agricultural establishments in the private sector employing 10-25 persons. From 30 September 1966, the educational profile of employees has also been collected on a voluntary basis along with occupational data.

Documentation

Ministry of Labour: Employment review. Information which does not appear in the national publication can be made available on request.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

None.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Series of employment (employees and working proprietors) as at the end of March each year are published in Tables 3A, 3B, 4, 5A, 5B, 6, 7 and 8 of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics Quarterly employment series (employees and working proprietors) are published in Tables 1 to 3 of the Bulletin of Labour Statistics.