Principal status
Also called: Usual principal status, UPS · Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Principal status is the activity on which a person spent the major part of the 365 days before the survey. This is called the major-time rule. The activity can be working, being unemployed or being out of the labour force. Usual status (UPSS, or "ps+ss") adds subsidiary status to it: economic work done for at least 30 days by someone whose principal status is different. Because it looks at a full year, usual status captures chronic, long-term unemployment. It usually gives the lowest unemployment rate.
Example
A student spent most of the year studying, so their principal status is "not in labour force". They also harvested on the family farm for a month. That is subsidiary work of at least 30 days, so under usual status they are counted as a worker.
Don't confuse with
- Current weekly status (CWS): looks only at the past 7 days. A person counts as employed if they worked at least one hour on any day of that week.
- Main worker: a Census category for people who did economic work for 183 days or more in the year.
Related concepts
- Labour force
- Not in labour force
- Discouraged workers
- Labour force participation rate
- Worker population ratio
- Unemployment rate
- Usual status
- Subsidiary status
- Current weekly status
- Current daily status