MC EXCLUSIVE India Web 3.O Summit: No one has challenged credibility, robustness of monthly jobs data, says statistics secretary Saurabh Garg

Whatever data we bring, we strictly follow international guidelines, and no one has challenged the credibility and robustness of the monthly periodic labour force survey (PLFS) data, Statistics Secretary Saurabh Garg told Moneycontrol on Thursday.

“Since January 2025, we are bringing monthly employment data, and we have increased the number of individuals we survey to nearly 3 lakhs now. This is significantly higher from the households surveyed in previous years,” Garg said at India Web 3.O Summit.

As per the September PLFS bulletin, the number of surveyed persons were 375,703 and surveyed households were 89,291.

“The sample sizes that we do, no one is close to that,” said Garg, adding that the ministry is very careful of the definitions and what they are stating.

“We’ve a very high focus on quality of the data. We have both machine level checks, which use AI and ML. We regularly do data user conferences with researchers and forecasters, and we are always open to question,” the secretary said.

We’re hopeful, as they work with us and standardize their systems, their data processes will also improve.

As per September PLFS bulletin, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, which is similar to figure published by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) for the month.