Employment, Unemployment and Migration Survey, July 2007 - June 2008

NSS 64th Round

In this round, the scope of the survey on employment and unemployment was enhanced with the collection of information on migration particulars of the households, of the household members and of the out-migrants.

NSSO collected data on employment-unemployment characteristics, based on which, estimates of employment and unemployment, measured in terms of three basic approaches, viz., usual status, current weekly status and current daily status can be obtained. The reference period for these approaches differ - it being 365 days preceding the date of survey for ‘usual
status’, 7 days preceding the date of survey for ‘current weekly status’ and each day of the 7 days preceding the date of survey for ‘current daily status’. Data were collected on the activity status of all persons, i.e. for workers, for those seeking or available for work and also for those remaining out of labour force. A worker could be self-employed or enjoy regular salaries/wages or be employed on casual wage basis. Data on this aspect, along with the industry of work of the worker and his/her occupation, were collected during this survey. In order to reveal the multi-dimensional features of the employment-unemployment situation in India, information on several correlates pertaining to it were also gathered. For the purpose of
collection of information on industry of activity, National Industrial Classification (NIC), 2004 and National Classification of Occupation (NCO) 2004 was used in this survey. The concepts used to collect data on employment-unemployment are similar to those used in the usual quinquennial rounds.

In the present survey, migration particulars of the households and the household members were also collected through Schedule 10.2 (Employment & Unemployment and Migration Particulars). Regarding households which have migrated to the place of enumeration during the last 365 days, particulars such as location of last usual residence, pattern of migration and reason for migration were collected. Particulars of out-migrants who migrated out to other village/ town, from the household, any time in the past, such as present place of residence, reason for migration, period since leaving the household, whether presently engaged in any economic activity, whether sent remittances, number of times and amount of remittances
sent during last 365 days to the households by such former members who had migrated out were collected. Information on the use of remittances received by the households during last 365 days from the members who migrated out any time in the past was also collected.From each of the sample migrants, information on reason for migration, period elapsed since migration, location of last usual place of residence, usual activity pursued at the time of migration, whether a return migrant, etc., was collected. In this survey, to assess the short duration movements of the people of India, for the household members who had stayed away for employment or in search of employment for a period of 30 days to 6 months, information on number of spells of duration of 15 days or more, destination for longest spell and industry of work, if worked, were collected.

The present round, Schedule 10.2 on employment-unemployment and migration particulars consisted of 12 blocks, including sub-block 3.1.

The first three blocks, viz. Blocks 0, 1 and 2, were used to record identification of sample households and particulars of field operations, as is the common practice in usual NSS rounds. Blocks 8, 9 and 10 were for recording the remarks of investigator/senior investigator, superintendent/senior superintendent and other supervisory officer, respectively. Of the remaining blocks,

Block 3 was for recording the household characteristics like household size, household industry, occupation, religion, social group, household type, land possessed, migration particulars of the households which migrated to the place of enumeration during the last 365 days, amount of remittances received and use of remittances by those households from which there were some out-migrants and monthly household consumer expenditure, etc.
Block 3.1 is for recording the particulars of out-migrants who migrated out from the household any time in the past.

Block 4 was for recording the demographic particulars, usual activity particulars, both principal and subsidiary, of all the household members.

The daily time disposition for different activities, for each of the seven days prior to the date of survey, along with the particulars of the activities, such as status, industry, operation (for rural areas only), etc. were recorded for each of the household members in Block 5. For the regular wage/salaried employee and casual labourers, wage and salary earnings were also be collected in this block. Besides, the current weekly status (cws) will be derived in this block from the daily time disposition data.

In Block 6, information collected, from each household member, on whether stayed away from the village/town for a period of 30 days or more but less than 6 months during the last 365 days and whether the place of enumeration is different from the last upr. For those household members, who had stayed away for a period of 30 days or more but less than 6 months from a household, information will be collected regarding number of spells, destination during longest spell and if worked, industry of work at 2- digit level of NIC-2004 for the longest duration of work. Besides, for those household members whose last upr is different from the present place of enumeration, details will be collected such as whether a return migrant, nature of movement, period since leaving last usual place of residence, particulars of last usual place of residence, usual activity status at the time of migration, reason for migration, etc.

In block 7, information on household consumer expenditure on 19 items were collected. The information on household consumer expenditure derived from this block was used as classificatory variable for analysis of employment-unemployment and migration data.