UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Changes in PLFS schedule and estimation procedure from January 2027 - inviting comments thereon

Q1. Under the 'forms of work' framework adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (2013), consider the following statements about persons during a reference week: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. A person who grows vegetables only for their own household to eat is engaged in work, but not in employment.
  2. A person doing an unpaid internship in a firm to gain workplace experience is engaged in work, but not in employment.
  3. A person who teaches without pay at a school run by a non-profit is in employment, because the service is provided for others.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1 only
  • D. 2 and 3 only

Q2. From January 2027, the Periodic Labour Force Survey proposes to ask persons aged 15 years and above about own-use production of goods, unpaid household and caregiving activities, volunteer work and unpaid trainee work. Consider the following statements about the likely consequences of this change: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. It will allow official estimates of activities that support household and community well-being but stay invisible in conventional employment indicators.
  2. It will, by itself, raise the female Worker Population Ratio reported in the monthly PLFS bulletins.
  3. Women who report only unpaid caregiving will, as a result, be classified as unemployed.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 2 only
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q3. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Unpaid household and caregiving services that family members provide to their own household are not counted in GDP estimates.
  2. Under the System of National Accounts, services produced within a household for its own final consumption lie outside the production boundary, with exceptions only for housing services of owner-occupiers and services of paid domestic staff.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q4. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. In national accounts, grain grown by a farm household and kept entirely for its own consumption is counted as production.
  2. The System of National Accounts excludes from its production boundary all production that households carry out for their own final use.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q5. With reference to the labour-force indicators and activity-status approaches used in the Periodic Labour Force Survey, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The Worker Population Ratio is the percentage of employed persons among those in the labour force.
  2. Under usual status (principal and subsidiary), a person who spent most of the preceding 365 days attending education but also did economic activity for 30 days or more is counted as a worker.
  3. Under Current Weekly Status, activity status is decided on the basis of the 7 days before the survey, which makes it suitable for high-frequency estimates.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 1 and 2 only
  • D. 2 and 3 only

Q6. In a region, many women who were earlier neither working nor seeking work begin actively seeking jobs and are available for work during a reference week, but none of them finds a job. The total population and the number of employed persons stay the same. Under the definitions used in the Periodic Labour Force Survey, which one of the following is the most likely outcome?

  • A. LFPR remains unchanged, WPR falls and UR rises
  • B. LFPR rises, WPR rises and UR remains unchanged
  • C. LFPR rises, WPR remains unchanged and UR rises
  • D. LFPR remains unchanged, WPR remains unchanged and UR rises

Q7. Consider the following assertion: 'Periodic Labour Force Survey estimates for the early months of 2027 should be compared with earlier PLFS estimates with caution.' Which of the statements given above support/supports the assertion?

  1. Samples for 2027–2028 are drawn from an updated sampling frame that reflects urbanisation, de-urbanisation and changes in district boundaries.
  2. For January–March 2027, the published estimates are pooled from samples drawn from two different frames, and their Relative Standard Errors are not published.
  3. The National Statistics Office has invited comments from researchers and the public on the proposed changes.
  4. Current Weekly Status estimates use a reference period of the 7 days before the survey.
  • A. 3 and 4 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 4 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q8. PLFS 2026 data showed that the existing survey design did not adequately capture digital platform workers. The National Statistics Office therefore proposes a separate second-stage stratum for households with such workers. Consider the following statements about this change: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. A separate stratum lets such households be sampled in a larger proportion than their share of the population, which improves the precision of estimates for this group.
  2. Oversampling such households will, by itself, raise the estimated share of platform workers in the all-India workforce.
  3. To form this stratum, the screening question must be asked in all sampled households, not only in households already known to have platform workers.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1 only