Which of the following statements about employment situation in India according to periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18 is/are correct ? 1. Construction sector gave employment to nearly one-tenth of urban male workforce in India 2. Nearly one-fourth of urban female workers in India were working in manufacturing sector 3. One-fourth of rural female workers in India were engaged in the agriculture sector Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)2 only
- (b)1 and 2 only
- (c)1 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — B, 1 and 2 only. The third statement is the one that fails, and it fails by a wide margin rather than a fine one. Rural women who work in India work overwhelmingly on the land — roughly three-quarters of them were in agriculture at the time of the 2017-18 survey — so putting the figure at one-fourth understates it by about three times. The first two statements survive. Construction absorbed close to a tenth of urban male workers, which is the single most striking fact about male work in Indian towns, and manufacturing absorbed close to a quarter of urban women workers, the largest single sector for them.
- (a)2 only — Rejects the construction figure. Construction is the largest non-farm employer of male labour in India and roughly a tenth of the urban male workforce is in it, so statement 1 stands.
- (c)1 and 3 only — Keeps the badly wrong statement and drops a correct one. Rural female employment in agriculture is far above one-fourth, and urban female employment in manufacturing is around one-fourth, so this option has the two figures the wrong way round.
- (d)1, 2 and 3 — Requires statement 3 to be true. It is not — a quarter is roughly the manufacturing share of urban women workers, not the agricultural share of rural women workers.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey, run by the National Statistical Office, replaced the old quinquennial employment-unemployment rounds and 2017-18 was its first annual report. It measures the labour force participation rate, the worker population ratio and the unemployment rate, and it breaks employment down by sector, by sex and by rural or urban location. Reading it means holding four different populations apart — rural male, rural female, urban male, urban female — because their sectoral profiles barely resemble one another.
The safe way through an item like this is not to memorise four percentages but to know the shape of each population. Rural women are the most agricultural group in the workforce by a long distance; urban women are concentrated in manufacturing and in services such as education and health; urban men are spread across trade, manufacturing, transport and construction, with construction the biggest single non-farm block; rural men are split between farming and construction. Once the shapes are in place, a claim that only one in four rural women workers is in agriculture is visibly wrong without any recall of the exact figure. The direction of travel since the 2020 exam matters too — the agricultural share of employment has risen again in the more recent rounds rather than falling, and the rise has been sharpest among women. The survey itself has also changed cadence, moving from quarterly urban bulletins to monthly releases from January 2025.
- The Periodic Labour Force Survey is conducted by the National Statistical Office and its first annual report covered 2017-18.
- Rural women workers are concentrated in agriculture to a far greater degree than any other group in the workforce.
- Manufacturing is the largest single sector of employment for urban women workers.
- Construction is the largest non-agricultural employer of male labour in India and takes about a tenth of urban male workers.
- The survey reports the labour force participation rate, the worker population ratio and the unemployment rate separately for rural and urban, male and female.
The false statement is false by a factor of about three, which is what makes the item answerable without exact figures.
- Trying to recall exact percentages instead of the relative shape of each group.
- Applying an all-India sectoral share to a single sex-and-location group.
- Assuming the agricultural share of employment only ever falls — it has risen in recent rounds.
Survey-based items usually contain one statement that is wrong by a wide margin; find that one first and the code often resolves without judging the close calls.
Consider the following statements regarding Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report 2023–24 by the National Statistical Organization (NSO): 1. The agriculture sector remains dominant in employment, with its share rising from about 44 per cent in 2017–18 to about 46 per cent in 2023–24. 2. The share of female workers in agriculture has increased during the period 2017–18 to 2023–24. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(c) Both 1 and 2
The same survey read six years later. It confirms from the other end what statement 3 here gets wrong — agriculture dominates employment overall, and the share of women workers in it has gone up rather than down.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which organisation conducts the Periodic Labour Force Survey in India?
- (a)The Reserve Bank of India
- (b)The National Statistical Office
- (c)The Labour Bureau
- (d)NITI Aayog
Answer(b) The National Statistical Office — it works under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is the largest employer of rural female workers in India?
- (a)Manufacturing
- (b)Construction
- (c)Agriculture
- (d)Trade and repair services
Answer(c) Agriculture — it accounts for roughly three-quarters of rural women who work.