Gig workers, unpaid household activities to get greater focus in labour survey from January 2027

The National Statistics Office (NSO) has proposed changes in the sampling design and questionnaire of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) from January 2027 to improve coverage of digital platform workers and capture a wider range of unpaid activities.

The NSO has been conducting the PLFS since 2017 to generate labour market statistics.

Its sampling design was revamped from January 2025 to provide monthly, quarterly and annual estimates and enable the estimation of indicators at the sub-state level.

Questions on education and skilling were also added in the last sampling design, while information on digital platform workers, a subset of gig workers, was being collected on an experimental basis since January 2026.

Separate sampling category for platform workers

A key proposed change is the introduction of a separate Second Stage Stratum (SSS) for digital platform workers to improve their representation in the survey.

"Experience from PLFS 2026 showed that the existing arrangement did not capture an adequate number of digital platform workers," the NSO said in its press note.

The revised design will introduce a new SSS based on digital platform work while retaining the existing SSS structure and composition.

There will be four SSSs in rural areas and five in urban areas, with 14 households surveyed in each selected First Stage Unit (FSU).

The revision is expected to improve the coverage of digital platform workers and facilitate more comprehensive data collection on this emerging segment of the labour market.

An additional binary question will be introduced to identify households in which any member has engaged in digital platform work during the specified reference period.

The question will be canvassed in both rural and urban households to identify eligible households for the formation of the new stratum.

Updated sampling frame

The NSO will also draw fresh samples for 2027-28 from an updated sampling frame reflecting changes in urbanisation, administrative boundaries and the emergence of new urban areas.

The updated frame will incorporate the latest Urban Frame Survey, urbanisation and de-urbanisation, and the creation, splitting or merger of districts and other administrative units. It will also include follow-up updation of the rural Census 2011 frame.

According to the NSO, the changes are expected to ensure better representation of the current population, and improve sample coverage and the reliability and relevance of PLFS estimates.

Criteria for sample allocation and stratification have also been modified based on experience from the previous two-year period, or Panel 5.

“These revisions are expected to improve the efficiency of sample allocation and stratification and ensure better representation of population variations which in turn minimise operational difficulties during sample selection,” the NSO said in a note.

The NSO has proposed a three-month transition period from January 2027 to facilitate the shift to the updated sampling frame.

Expanded data on unpaid work

The revised survey schedule will also include new questions on own-use production of goods, unpaid household and caregiving activities, volunteer work and unpaid trainee work.

These questions will be canvassed during the first visit in both rural and urban areas for persons aged 15 years and above.

The changes are intended to enable annual reporting on these activities and provide a more comprehensive assessment of work beyond conventional employment.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has invited comments and suggestions from policymakers, researchers, academic and research institutions, and members of the public on the proposed modifications within 15 days.

The proposed changes will be implemented when fresh samples for the two-year period 2027-28 are drawn from an updated sampling frame.