Platform workers and unpaid work: NSO seeks comments on proposed PLFS changes for 2027

The National Statistics Office has invited public feedback on proposed changes to the Periodic Labour Force Survey from January 2027. An October 23 announcement says the changes aim to improve coverage of digital-platform workers and collect more information about unpaid activities.

The proposal introduces a separate sampling stratum for households with digital-platform workers, after the existing approach captured too few of them. Platform workers are a subset of gig workers; the change would help the survey identify and study this group more effectively.

New questions would cover production of goods for household use, unpaid household and caregiving work, volunteering and unpaid trainee work. These would be asked during the first survey visit for people aged 15 and above in rural and urban areas, enabling annual reporting.

An updated sampling frame would reflect urbanisation and changes to administrative boundaries. During January–March 2027, monthly estimates would pool samples from the old and updated frames; relative standard error estimates would not be presented for those three months.

Policymakers, researchers, institutions and members of the public may submit comments within 15 days of the October 23 press note. The concept note is available on MoSPI’s website. These are proposed survey and estimation changes, rather than newly released unemployment figures.