Government to redesign labour survey to track gig workers, unpaid work

The Union government will redesign the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) to identify digital platform workers and record several forms of unpaid work that are currently not measured separately.

The revised survey will cover unpaid household and caregiving activities, volunteer work, unpaid trainee work and the own-use production of goods.

The PLFS will also add questions to measure labour underutilisation, while its sampling design and survey schedule will be changed from January 2027.

Changes proposed from January 2027

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has proposed the modifications.

The proposals were set out in a press release and concept note issued in New Delhi on Friday (October 23, 2026).

The Ministry has invited comments and suggestions from policymakers, researchers, academic institutions and the public within 15 days from Friday.

A separate Second Stage Stratum (SSS) will be introduced in the PLFS to identify households with at least one digital platform worker.

The questionnaire will receive an additional entry to determine whether any household member engaged in digital platform work during the specified reference period.

“There will be four SSSs in rural areas and five in urban areas, with 14 households canvassed in each selected First Stage Unit (FSU),” the press release said.

The revised SSS structure is intended to improve the coverage of digital platform workers and support more comprehensive data collection on the emerging segment of the labour market, according to the press release.

Unpaid work to be recorded separately

The concept note said that a large proportion of women in India spend considerable time on unpaid household and caregiving activities.

It listed cooking, cleaning, childcare, and care for elderly, sick or disabled family members among these activities.

The note said such work contributes significantly to household well-being and facilitates the participation of other household members in paid employment.

However, these activities have not been measured separately in the PLFS until now, it added.

The revised questionnaire will include specific questions on unpaid household and caregiving activities, along with volunteer work and unpaid trainee work.

It will also capture engagement in the own-use production of goods, expanding the range of work-related activity recorded through the survey.

Sampling changes

The criteria for sample allocation and stratification have also been updated using experience from the previous two years.

The press release said the revisions are expected to improve the efficiency of sample allocation and stratification.

They are also intended to ensure better representation of population variations and minimise operational difficulties during sample selection, according to the release.

Together, the proposed changes will alter both the PLFS sampling structure and the information collected from households about paid, unpaid and platform-based work.

Source: The Hindu