India (4)
Title of the survey
Annual survey of industries, Part II.
Organization responsible
The National Sample Survey Organization plans and carries out the
survey, while the estimates are computed by the Labour Bureau,
Ministry of Labour, which also publishes the results.
Periodicity of the survey
Data on employment and labour cost are collected every year, those on
absenteeism and labour turnover are collected during the first three
years of each four-year period, while earnings data are collected during
the fourth year of each four-year period.
Objectives of the survey
Specifically with reference to labour cost:
- to provide employers with comparative information on labour
cost in different industries and areas;
- to indicate the nature of major social welfare programmes
operated for the welfare of workers, financed by the employers, e.g.
provident fund, medical care, housing;
- to indicate the cost impact of certain programmes outside the
production sphere;
- to provide a means for assessing the impact on total labour cost of
changes in various components due to social legislation, etc., e.g.
longer vacations or changes in social security contributions;
- to throw light on employees' compensation systems and in particular
on certain elements of employees' incomes which are outside normal
wages.
Main labour topics covered by the survey
Employment, absenteeism, labour turnover, earnings, hours and days of
work and labour cost, as well as information on the running of
industrial establishments (production, consumption, etc.) and
establishment practices regarding systems of payment for time not work
and social security and pension schemes.
Reference period
The accounting year, normally from 1 April to 31 March.
The number of regular employees directly employed is collected for
the first and last day of each month.
Total employment is recorded as the average for the whole year.
Data on earnings and hours of work, collected every four years, are
reported for each month of the year.
Labour cost data refer to the whole accounting year.
Coverage of the survey
Geographical
Whole country.
Industrial
The survey covers manufacturing processes, defined under the
Factories Act, 1948 as any process for:
- making, altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing, packing,
oiling, washing, cleaning, breaking up, demolishing, or otherwise
treating or adapting any article or substance with a view to its
use, sale, transport, delivery or disposal;
- pumping oil, water, sewage or any substance;
- generating, transforming or transmitting power;
- composing types of printing, printing by letter press, lithography,
photogravure or other similar process or bookbinding;
- constructing, reconstructing, repairing, finishing, breaking up
ships or vessels; or
- preserving or storing any article in cold storage.
The survey also covers certain other activities, including gas
production and distribution, motion picture production, cold storage
and water supply.
Establishments
All establishments registered under the Factories Act, 1948, under
Section 2m(i) and 2m(ii) of the Bidi and Cigar Workers (Conditions
of Employment) Act, 1966 and all electricity undertakings.
These consist of factories using power and employing ten workers or
more, factories not using power and employing 20 or more workers and
certain other factories.
Persons
All persons working in or for the establishment, including working
proprietors and active business partners and unpaid family workers,
but excluding homeworkers and directors of incorporated enterprises
who are paid solely for their attendance at meetings of the board
of directors.
Occupations
All occupations.
Concepts and definitions
Employment
covers all persons engaged, i.e. employees, working
proprietors, unpaid family workers and unpaid working members of
cooperative factories.
Employees comprise:
- directly employed workers: all persons who are defined as workers
under the Factories Act, 1948 and the Bidi and Cigar Workers
(Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966 and all workers engaged in the
generation, transmission and distribution of electricity;
- workers employed through contractors: all workers who are not
employed directly but by a third agency, i.e. a contractor;
- supervisory and managerial staff; and
- all other employees.
Workers (i.e. production and related workers) include all
persons employed directly or through any agency, including a
contractor, on payment of wages or salaries and engaged in any
manufacturing process or its ancillary activities like cleaning any
part of the machinery or any premises used for manufacturing or storing
materials or any kind of work incidental to or connected with the
manufacturing process. Also included is labour engaged in repair or
maintenance or in production of fixed assets for factory's own use or
labour employed for generating electricity or producing coal gas. Any
person engaged in manufacturing and its ancillary activities but
not receiving any payment of wages or salaries, such as
working proprietors
(working members in the case of a cooperative factory) or unpaid family
member, etc., is not included. Also excluded are all persons holding
positions of supervision or management or employed in confidential
positions.
Clerks employed in planning section, estimating section and drawing
office are included, as their work is more or less directly
connected with the manufacturing process or the articles
manufactured. Also included are gatekeepers if solely or mainly
deputed for guarding places where manufacturing processes are
carried on.
Homeworkers, i.e. persons who are given materials by the factory to
work in their own homes and return the finished products, are not
included.
Supervisory and managerial staff include all persons holding
positions of supervision or management.
Other employees include all employees other than workers,
i.e. clerks in administrative offices, store-keeping sections and
welfare sections (hospitals, schools, etc.), watch and ward staff,
employees in the sales department and those engaged in the purchase
of raw materials, fixed assets, etc. for the factory.
Also included as employees are apprentices, trainees and workers on
probation; casual, temporary and seasonal workers; workers temporarily
absent from work because of paid or unpaid vacation or holiday,
temporary or indefinite layoff, sickness or accident, and other
reasons; and persons on the payroll during notice period preceding
retirement, resignation or dismissal.
Working proprietors include all owners who are actively
engaged in the work of the factory. Dormant or inactive partners and
members of the proprietor's family are excluded.
Unpaid family workers and unpaid working members of cooperatives
include all persons living in the household of any of the
proprietors and working in or for the factory establishment without
regular pay for at least 15 hours per week, and the upaid members of a
cooperative society working in or for the factory in any direct and
productive capacity.
Information is collected separately on:
- regular workers directly employed (on first and last day of each
month);
- workers employed directly (men, women, children);
- workers employed through contractors;
- supervisory and managerial staff;
- other employees;
- working proprietors;
- unpaid family workers;
- unpaid working members of cooperative factories.
Labour cost
defined as the cost of labour borne by the employer in the form of
salaries and wages, bonuses, benefits in kind, old-age benefits, social
security and other group benefits.
The labour cost data cover employees, including workers employed
through contractors, and are collected separately for:
- workers;
- supervisory and managerial staff;
- other employees.
Information is collected on the following components:
- Wages and salaries: remuneration related to an individual
worker, in terms of money, directly or indirectly payable, more or less
regularly for each pay period, in respect of his employment or work done
in such employment. Included are wages and salaries for leave periods
and paid holidays, payment for overtime, dearness, compensatory,
house-rent and other allowances and bonuses, such as production bonus,
good attendance bonus, incentive bonus, etc., which are paid more or
less regularly for each pay period. The amount of wages and salaries
payable during the accounting year is gross, i.e. before any deductions
for fines, damages, taxes, provident fund, employees' state insurance
contributions, etc. For workers employed through contractors, payments
made to these workers and not to the contractor are recorded. Benefits
in kind (perquisites) of an individual nature only are included. Also
included are lay-off payments and compensation for unemployment, except
where such payments are made from trust or other special funds set up
expressly for this purpose, i.e. payments which are not made by the
employer.
Excluded are employers' contributions to old-age benefits,
employers' contributions to other social security charges, and the
imputed value of group benefits in kind and travelling and other
expenditure incurred for business purposes and reimbursed by employers.
- Bonuses comprise profit-sharing, festival, year-end and other
bonuses and ex gratia payments paid at less frequent intervals, i.e.
other than bonuses paid more or less regularly each pay period.
- Contributions to provident and other funds include old-age
benefits such as provident fund, pension, gratuity, etc., and
contributions to other social security charges such as employees' state
insurance, compensation for work injuries and occupational diseases,
provident fund linked insurance, retrenchment and lay-off benefits.
- Workmen and staff welfare expenses include expenditure on
maternity benefits and crèches and other benefits such as supply of
food, beverages, tobacco, clothing and group lodging at concessional
rates, and educational, cultural and recreational facilities and
services and grants to trade unions, and cooperative stores meant for
employees. All group benefits are included.
Earnings
all remuneration in money terms, directly or indirectly payable, more or
less regularly for each pay period, in respect of employment or work
done in such employment. It includes wages and salaries for leave
periods and paid holidays, payments for overtime, dearness,
compensatory, house rent and other allowances and bonuses such as
production, good attendance, incentive bonuses, etc. which are paid more
or less regularly for each pay period.
Data are collected gross, for the accounting year, before deductions
for fines, damages, taxes, provident fund, employees' state
insurance contributions, etc. Payments to workers employed through
contractors are included, but not those to the contractors.
Also included are lay-off payments and compensation for unemployment
except where such payments are made from trust or other special
funds set up expressly for this purpose, i.e. payments which are
not made by the employer.
Commissions paid to sales and other personnel, profit-sharing bonuses
and earnings in kind are not included.
The earnings data cover employees, and are collected separately for:
- directly employed workers (men, women, children);
- workers employed through contractors;
- supervisory and managerial staff;
- other employees.
Hours of work
Manhours worked refer to both regular and overtime hours
worked on all days. They are estimated as the aggregate of all hours
worked on each shift over the various shifts during the period.
Data on manhours worked cover only workers (production and related
workers) as defined above.
Data are not collected on normal hours of work.
Mandays worked are the total number of mandays worked by
regular workers directly employed during each month of the year,
obtained by summing the number of workers attending in each shift over
all shifts worked on all days during the month.
Scheduled working days are the days on which workers are
required to work, i.e. the number of days in each month less the
number of rest days, weekly off-days and holidays enjoyed by workers
irrespective of whether the factory worked on all the days of the
month. In cases where workers are allowed rest days by rotation and
the number of rest days is different for different groups of workers,
the minimum and maximum number of days worked by different groups of
workers is recorded.
International recommendations
In general, the definitions used in the survey are in line with the
international recommendations on statistics of labour cost, earnings
and hours of work.
Classifications
Components of labour cost / compensation of employees
The following groups are used:
- wages and salaries;
- bonuses;
- benefits in kind;
- old-age benefits;
- other social security charges;
- maternity benefits;
- other group benefits.
Industrial
All data collected are classified according to the National Industrial
Classification, 1987, which is broadly linked to the
International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic
activities (ISIC), Rev.2, 1968.
Occupational
Not relevant.
Others
Not relevant.
Sample size and design
Statistical unit
The sampling and reporting unit is
the industrial establishment.
Survey universe / sample frame
This consists of all establishments registered under the
Factories Act, 1948, Sections 2m(i) and 2m(ii) of the Bidi and Cigar
Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966 and all electricity
undertakings.
Every four years, the sampling frame is updated on the basis of
information supplied by the state authorities.
Sample design
The survey comprises:
- a census of all units employing 100 or more workers; all units in
some of the less industrialized states; industry groups having less
than 20 units at the three-digit level of industrial classification in a
state; and all electricity units;
- a sample of the remaining units, divided into two strata (S-I and
S-II).
Stratum S-I includes all industries with 21 to 60 units in a
state at the three-digit level of industrial classification.
A uniform sample size of 20 units is selected.
Stratum S-II covers all industries with 61 or more units
at the three-digit level of industrial classification in a state.
A uniform sample of one-third is selected, using circular systematic
sampling with a random start.
A fresh sample is drawn every year.
Sample rotation is not used.
Field work
Data collection
It takes place between 1 July and 30 June each year.
Questionnaires are mailed to the sample establishments. There is a
permanent survey organization.
Survey questionnaire
It consists of five blocks, with detailed instructions
for each item:
- identification and other particulars;
- mandays worked, absenteeism and labour turnover for regular
workers directly employed for each month of the year;
- working days, mandays and manhours worked, mandays paid for and
and earnings during each month of the calendar year (every four years
only);
- employment;
- labour cost (including for contract labour).
Substitution of sampling units
None.
Data processing and editing
Data are processed by computer. The responses are not coded, but are
edited during fieldwork. Queries are followed up by telephone, mail
or personal visits by field staff.
Consistency checks are made of:
- the code numbers and identification particulars in the different
parts of the questionnaire;
- scheduled working days, which should fall within certain limits on
the basis of the number of working days in the month and the number of
employees;
- scheduled working days and days actually worked.
If data cover periods in which strikes, lockouts, etc. occurred,
they are not collected.
Types of estimates
Estimates are made in the form of totals, averages for
all employees, per
worker and the distribution of labour cost by components in percentages.
The time unit to which they refer is the day.
Construction of indices
None.
Weighting of sample results
Multipliers inversely proportional to the sampling fractions
are used to estimate the universe statistics. The multipliers are
applied at the state and industry levels. The state and industry level
estimates are summed to arrive at the All-India figures.
Adjustments
Non-response
None.
Other bias
None.
Use of benchmark data
Not relevant.
Use of other surveys
Not relevant.
Indicators of reliability of the estimates
Coverage of the sampling frame
Not available.
Sampling error / sampling variance
Not available.
Non-response rate
In the 1989-90 survey round, about 93 per cent of all working factories
in the census sector of the frame responded. At the state level,
response varied between 77 and 100 per cent.
Non-sampling errors
Not available.
Conformity with other sources
Not relevant.
Estimates for non-survey years
Not relevant.
Available series
The following standard tables are published regularly:
- average labour cost per manday worked, by industry;
- average labour cost per manday worked, by state;
- composition of labour cost, by state;
- composition of labour cost, by industry;
History of the survey
The Annual survey of industries began in 1963. New or revised
Industrial Classifications were introduced in 1971 (NIC-70) and
in 1988 (NIC-87).
Collection of data on employment began in 1974.
Documentation
Labour Bureau: Report on the Annual survey of industries
(annual), published about four to five years after the reference year.
Confidentiality / Reliability criteria
Not available.
Other information
Data supplied to the ILO for publication
Series on average labour cost per day in manufacturing are published in
Tables 22A and 22B of the Yearbook Labour Statistics.