Usual status

Also called: Usual principal and subsidiary status, UPSS, ps+ss · Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Usual status is the way a labour survey decides a person's activity (working, unemployed, or outside the labour force) by looking back over the last 365 days. It first finds the person's principal status (ps), meaning the activity on which they spent the major part of the year. It then adds any subsidiary status (ss) work, meaning economic work done for 30 days or more in that year [1].

• Usual status (ps+ss) = principal status (major-time rule over 365 days) + subsidiary work of ≥30 days
• It matters because India's headline labour numbers are given in usual status. These are the LFPR, WPR and unemployment rate in the annual PLFS reports. Because it looks at a whole year, it picks up chronic, long-term unemployment (people who had no work for most of the year). It usually gives the lowest unemployment rate of all the measures.

Explanation

How a person is classified

• Step 1: Principal status (ps)
• The survey asks what the person did for the major part of the 365 days before the survey. This is the "major time criterion" [1].
• First it checks whether the person was in the labour force (working or seeking or available for work) or out of it for most of the year.

• If they were in the labour force, it then checks whether they spent more of that time working or seeking work.

• Step 2: Subsidiary status (ss)

• Some people's principal status is not "worker". If such a person still did economic work for 30 days or more in the year, they are counted as a worker under ps+ss [1].
• Example: a college student (principal status: student) harvests on the family farm for one month. Under ps+ss, they count as a worker.

• The same applies to a job-seeker who spent most of the year looking for work but did 30 days or more of work on the side. Under ps+ss they count as employed, not unemployed.

• Who ends up "unemployed" in usual status?

• Only people whose main activity for the year was seeking or being available for work, and who did not get even 30 days of work on the side.

Why usual status gives the lowest unemployment rate

• The test for "employed" is easy to pass:
• 30 days of work in a year is enough.
• So many people with only a little work are counted as employed.

• Few people are left in the "unemployed" group, so the UR stays low.

• Compare with the shorter reference periods:

• Current weekly status (CWS), last 7 days: a person out of work in the lean season shows up as unemployed. It captures seasonal unemployment (no work in the off-season).

• Current daily status (CDS), half-day units: every half-day without work is counted. It captures underemployment (having some work, but not enough) and usually gives the highest UR.

• What usual status misses:

• People who work only a few weeks a year.
• Disguised unemployment (more people on a job, such as a family farm, than it really needs). These people look "employed".

Worked example: the three indicators in usual status

• The usual-status indicators are linked by one identity: WPR = LFPR × (1 − UR/100)
• LFPR (labour force participation rate) = labour force ÷ population × 100
• WPR (worker-population ratio) = workers ÷ population × 100

• UR (unemployment rate) = unemployed ÷ labour force × 100

• PLFS 2023-24, usual status, age 15+: LFPR = 60.1% and UR = 3.2% [1]

• WPR = 60.1 × (1 − 0.032) = 60.1 × 0.968 ≈ 58.2%

• The official WPR is exactly 58.2% [1].

• Working backwards, calendar year 2025: LFPR = 59.3% and WPR = 57.4% [2]

• UR ≈ (1 − 57.4/59.3) × 100 ≈ 3.2%

In India

• Who measures it: the National Statistical Office (NSO) under MoSPI, through the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). The NSO was formed by merging the CSO and NSSO under the MoSPI order of 23 May 2019 [4].
• History:
• Earlier, the NSSO's five-yearly (quinquennial) employment–unemployment rounds reported usual status. These rounds ran from 1972-73 to the last one in 2011-12.

• PLFS was launched in April 2017. It gave annual estimates in both usual status and CWS on a July–June year [1][3].

• From January 2025 (revamped PLFS):

• Monthly and quarterly estimates are CWS only. Usual-status figures are annual only [3].

• Annual reports now follow the calendar year (January–December). The first was PLFS Annual Report 2025 [2].

• Latest usual-status figures (ps+ss, age 15+):

Indicator	2017-18	2023-24	2025 (Jan–Dec)
LFPR (%)	49.8	60.1	59.3
WPR (%)	46.8	58.2	57.4
UR (%)	6.0	3.2	≈3.2 (derived)
Female LFPR (%)	23.3	41.7	40.0

• 2017-18 and 2023-24 figures: [1]. 2025 figures: [2].

• Rural vs urban UR, 2023-24: rural 2.5%, urban 5.1% [1]. Urban female UR is 7.1%, the highest of any group [1].

Don't confuse with

• Current weekly status (CWS): the reference period is the last 7 days, not 365 days. A person is employed if they worked at least one hour on any day of the week. It captures seasonal unemployment, and it is the measure used for PLFS monthly and quarterly data [3].
• Current daily status (CDS): it counts person-days in half-day units, not persons. It usually gives the highest UR, while usual status gives the lowest.
• Principal status alone (ps): this uses only the major-time rule. ps+ss also adds people with ≥30 days of subsidiary work, so it counts more people as workers and fewer as unemployed.
• Census main/marginal worker: the Census uses a 183-day cut-off. Main worker means 183 days or more of work, and marginal worker means less than 183 days. The usual-status subsidiary threshold is 30 days.

Prelims Hooks

• Usual status (ps+ss) has a reference period of 365 days. Principal status is set by the major time criterion, and subsidiary work must last ≥30 days [1].
• Among usual status, CWS and CDS, usual status usually gives the lowest UR and CDS the highest.
• A student whose principal status is "student" but who works 30 days or more in the year is counted as a worker under ps+ss.
• PLFS 2023-24 (usual status, age 15+): LFPR 60.1%, WPR 58.2%, UR 3.2% [1].
• Since January 2025: usual-status estimates are annual only (calendar year). Monthly and quarterly PLFS estimates are CWS only [3].
• Trap: in every measure, the UR is divided by the labour force, not the population.

Mains Points

• A low usual-status UR does not mean a healthy job market:
• 30 days of side work counts as "employed", so underemployment and disguised unemployment are hidden.
• Discouraged workers (people who stopped searching because they think there are no jobs) leave the labour force, which pushes the UR down further.

• So India's 3.2% UR (2023-24) [1] should be read together with the WPR, CDS figures, the share of regular wage vs casual jobs, and real wages.

• Rising female participation under usual status:

• Female LFPR rose from 23.3% (2017-18) to 41.7% (2023-24) [1].
• Hopeful view: women are gaining economic power.

• Cautious view: the 30-day subsidiary rule counts short spells of unpaid family help and rural self-employment as work. Some of this is distress-driven, and urban female UR is still 7.1% [1].

• Choosing the right measure for policy:

• Usual status is annual only [3], so it is too slow to track short-term shocks.
• Monthly rural + urban CWS data (from 2025) [3] suits quick responses, such as adjusting MGNREGA funds.
• Usual status remains the better tool for tracking structural, long-term unemployment.

Related concepts

• Labour force
• Not in labour force
• Discouraged workers
• Labour force participation rate
• Worker population ratio
• Unemployment rate
• Principal status
• Subsidiary status
• Current weekly status
• Current daily status

Read more

• Measuring the labour market: indicators, activity status and data sources