Employment and unemployment in India- Report of 66th round of the NSSO (Sept.2013)

An all-India survey on the situation of employment and unemployment in India was carried 

out as a part of the 66th round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) during the period 

July 2009 - June 2010. This nation-wide enquiry was conducted to provide estimates on various 

characteristics pertaining to employment and unemployment in India at the national and state 

levels. Information on various facets of employment and unemployment was collected through 

employment and unemployment schedule (Schedule 10) of NSS 66th round. Based on the data 

collected during the entire period of survey, estimates of employment and unemployment in 

cities and towns of India along with certain features associated with them have been presented in 

this report.

This report is based on the eighth quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment 

conducted in the 66th round of NSS during July 2009 to June 2010. The survey was spread over 

7,402 villages and 5,252 urban blocks covering 1, 00,957 households (59,129 in rural areas and 

41,828 in urban areas) and enumerating 4, 59,784 persons (2, 81,327 in rural areas and 1, 78,457

in urban areas). Employment and unemployment were measured with three different approaches, 

viz. usual status with a reference period of one year, current weekly status with one week 

reference period and current daily status based on the daily activity pursued during each day of 

the reference week. Unless otherwise stated, usual status workers will mean all workers taking 

into consideration the usual principal and subsidiary status together. In this report, estimates of 

the employment and unemployment indicators are presented for each of the class 1 cities in 

India. The corresponding estimates are also presented for each State/UT for three size classes of 

towns, as per Population Census 2001, viz. class 1 cities (with population one million and 

above), class 2 towns (with population 50,000 to one million) and class 3 towns (with 

population less than 50,000). Some of the key findings of the 66th round of NSS survey on 

employment and unemployment conducted during July 2009 to June 2010 are stated below.

 The proportion of usually employed males of age 15 years and above was 73 per cent for

class 1 cities and 74 per cent for size class 2 towns and about 76 per cent for size class 3 

towns. For females of the same age group the corresponding proportions were - 17 per cent 

for class 1 cities, 18 per cent for size class 2 towns and nearly 21 per cent for size class 3 

towns. 

 Between 2004-05 and 2009-10 the proportion of usually employed males of age 15 years and 

above decreased by 3 percentage points for class 1 cities, 2 percentage points for size class 2 

and 3 towns each. During this period, corresponding decrease for females was 3 percentage 

points in class 1 cities, 4 percentage points for size class 2 towns and 7 percentage points for 

size class 3 towns.

 Among male workers of age 15 years and above in the usual status (ps+ss), about 52 per cent 

in class 1 cities, about 43 per cent in size class 2 towns and about 31 per cent in size class 3

towns were regular wage/salaried employees. Corresponding proportions for females were 58 

per cent, 42 per cent and 23 per cent for class 1 cities, size class 2 towns and size class 3

towns, respectively. 

 Among male workers of age 15 years and above in the usual status (ps+ss), about 39 per cent 

in class 1 cities, about 40 per cent in size class 2 towns and about 45 per cent in size class 3

towns were self-employed. Corresponding proportions for females were 33 per cent, 41 per 

cent and 47 per cent for class 1 cities, size class 2 towns and size class 3 towns, respectively. 

Among the workers in the usual status (ps+ss), the tertiary sector had the highest share of 

workers in 2009-10 compared to other two sectors in all size class of towns. Among male 

workers of age 15 years and above in urban India, about 59 per cent were engaged in tertiary 

sector, about 35 per cent in secondary sector and about 6 per cent in primary sector.

Corresponding proportions for females were about 53 per cent, 33 per cent and 14 per cent,

respectively.

http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_rep_553_Final.pdf