Indian Urban Workers’ Labour Market Transitions

This paper studies gross labour market flows and determinants of labour market transitions for urban Indian workers using a panel dataset constructed from Indian Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data for the period 2017–18 to 2019–20. Longitudinal studies based on the PLFS have been hampered by data problems that prevent a straightforward merging of the 2017–18 and 2018–19 data releases. In this paper, we propose and validate a matching procedure based on individual and household characteristics that can successfully link almost all records across these 2 years. We use the constructed dataset to document a number of stylised facts about gross worker flows and to estimate the effects of different individual characteristics and work histories on probabilities of job gain and loss.