Who We Are
The India Labour Observatory is a public research platform created to open up India's vast statistical archives. We work with large-scale official survey microdata—including national labour surveys, time-use records, economic censuses, and enterprise datasets—translating millions of complex survey observations into intuitive interactive maps, visual research stories, and searchable statistical tables.
We believe that public data belongs to the public. Our platform serves students, workers, journalists, researchers, policymakers, and citizens who want reliable, fact-based insights into Indian labour without paywalls, technical hurdles, or partisan bias.
Research Team
The researchers behind the India Labour Observatory's computational architecture, empirical analysis, and data curation:
Specializes in empirical labour economics, digital and platform work, computational survey microdata methods, and structural transformation in India and the Global South.
Focuses on labour economics, gender dynamics in the workforce, social policy, informal employment, and empirical development studies.
Why We Built This
National employment headlines usually focus on a single number: the overall unemployment rate. But in India, where most people work in informal jobs, agriculture, self-employment, or family enterprises, a single unemployment figure hides the most important parts of the story.
We created the Observatory to make the full reality of Indian work visible and understandable to all:
Democratising Microdata
Official surveys record over a million respondents every year, but working with raw files requires specialized statistical software. We clean, verify, and organize this data so anyone can explore, filter, and download it directly.
Revealing Hidden Structural Divides
We bring attention to critical patterns that broad national averages miss—such as the massive 39 percentage point gap between male and female workforce participation, why college graduates face 11% unemployment while uneducated workers find work immediately, and deep disparities across states.
Focusing on Dignity & Job Security
Having any job is not the same as having secure, dignified work. We measure whether workers have written contracts, social security, reasonable working hours, and fair earnings.
Our Research Principles
- Public & Free Forever: All findings, charts, maps, and statistical tables are freely accessible to the masses under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0).
- Accurate Survey Weighting: We apply official survey multipliers so that sample counts accurately reflect India's true population size across states and demographic groups.
- Zero Black-Box Estimates: We do not use synthetic or generated data. Every number on this site comes directly from verified official survey records.
- Sample Reliability & Honesty: We calculate Relative Standard Errors (RSE) for every state and indicator, clearly flagging or omitting numbers where sample sizes are too small to be dependable.
What You Can Explore on the Site
36-State Capability Atlas
Interactive maps and multi-metric capability radar comparing work, gender balance, wages, and security across all Indian States and UTs.
Visual StoryIndia’s Labour Market in 2025
A guided visual essay breaking down the major divides in Indian employment: education paradoxes, gender wedges, and regional clusters.
Data BankPLFS 2024–25 Compendium
48 detailed cross-tabulations covering wages, industries, education, religion, caste, and hours, with instant search and CSV export.
Definitions & MathMethodology & Terms Explainer
Clear definitions of all survey terms (LFPR, WPR, UPSS, CWS), activity codes, and sampling methods used throughout the site.
Contact & Inquiries
We welcome questions, feedback, and collaboration from students, journalists, researchers, and public interest groups. If you need specific tabulations or have questions about the data, please get in touch.