Counting the Uncounted

Not all work comes with a payslip. A woman managing household responsibilities, a caregiver looking after an elderly family member or a delivery worker navigating digital platforms may all contribute to economic activity in ways that conventional employment statistics do not adequately capture. Yet how a country measures employment determines how it understands its labour market and designs public policy. Recognising this gap, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has proposed significant changes to India’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), scheduled to take effect from January 2027. The revisions seek to improve the measurement of digital platform workers and bring greater visibility to unpaid household and caregiving activities. This is more than a technical adjustment to a national survey; it raises a fundamental question about what India recognises as work.

Introduced in 2017, the PLFS is India’s principal source of information on labour market indicators, including the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR). However, as the nature of work evolves, the statistical frameworks used to measure it must also adapt.

The proposed changes include a separate sampling category for households with digital platform workers, alongside additional questions capturing unpaid domestic and caregiving activities, own-use production, volunteering and unpaid trainee work. The government also intends to update the sampling frame to reflect changes in urbanisation and administrative boundaries.

These revisions acknowledge that conventional employment measurements may not adequately capture the changing nature of India’s labour market. Their significance becomes particularly clear when viewed through two dimensions: unpaid work and platform-based employment.

Invisible Labour

One of the most consequential aspects of the proposed revision is the inclusion of unpaid household and caregiving activities. Much of the work undertaken within households has remained inadequately represented in conventional employment assessments, despite its essential contribution to economic and social well-being.

India’s Time Use Survey 2024 highlights this imbalance. Among individuals aged 15–59, approximately 41 per cent of women participated in unpaid caregiving activities, compared with 21.4 per cent of men. Women also spend considerably more time on unpaid domestic responsibilities.

This disparity has direct implications for women’s economic participation. Time spent on unpaid responsibilities can limit opportunities to pursue paid employment, acquire new skills or participate in economic activities outside the household. Consequently, women undertaking substantial productive and caregiving activities may still appear economically inactive under conventional labour market classifications.

Measuring unpaid work does not necessarily mean classifying household responsibilities as paid employment. Rather, it makes visible activities that sustain households but remain outside conventional measures of market employment. Better data can help policymakers understand the relationship between unpaid responsibilities, women’s labour force participation and access to economic opportunities. It can also strengthen the case for investments in childcare and elderly care infrastructure.

The second major dimension concerns India’s expanding gig and platform economy. Digital platforms have transformed service delivery, creating employment opportunities across transportation, food delivery, e-commerce and domestic services. However, the flexibility associated with platform-based work often comes alongside uncertain earnings, irregular working hours and limited social protection.

According to NITI Aayog’s report on India’s gig and platform economy, the workforce stood at approximately 7.7 million in 2020–21 and was projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029–30.

Despite this expansion, identifying platform workers through conventional household surveys has remained challenging. The proposed PLFS revision seeks to address this through improved sampling and additional questions identifying households with members engaged in digital platform work.

However, platform workers represent only a subset of the broader gig economy. Individuals undertaking informal, temporary or task-based assignments without relying on digital platforms may continue to be difficult to identify. Improving the representation of platform workers is therefore an important step, but not a comprehensive solution to measuring all forms of emerging employment.

Policy Implications

The significance of these changes ultimately depends on how the resulting data is used. More comprehensive employment statistics can improve the design of labour policies, social protection programmes and gender-responsive interventions. Understanding unpaid caregiving can help identify barriers to women’s employment, while better information on platform workers can inform discussions around income security, accident insurance and social protection.

However, expanding survey coverage also requires careful interpretation. As the PLFS introduces new categories, comparisons with earlier employment estimates may become more complicated. Researchers and policymakers will need to distinguish between actual changes in labour market conditions and changes resulting from improved measurement.

More importantly, statistical visibility alone cannot guarantee better working conditions. Recording unpaid work does not automatically redistribute household responsibilities, just as identifying platform workers does not independently ensure fair wages or social security. Improved data must inform institutional responses and make existing policy gaps more difficult to overlook.

India’s proposed PLFS revisions reflect an important recognition: the nature of work is changing, and the systems used to measure it must evolve accordingly. By bringing unpaid household activities and digital platform employment into sharper statistical focus, the country has an opportunity to develop a more comprehensive understanding of its labour market.

The larger challenge lies beyond measurement. Economic contribution cannot be understood solely through conventional employment categories. Ultimately, the strength of India’s labour statistics will depend on how effectively they capture the people and activities that sustain its economy.

(The writer is an economics postgraduate from Jawaharlal Nehru University with research interests in economic policy, trade and global governance. Views personal.)