India - Employment and Unemployment : NSS 66th round, Schedule 10, July 2009 - June 2010

The spell of unemployment means the continuous period for which the person remains unemployed. The present spell will, therefore, refer to the period starting from the day the person became unemployed to the survey date, without any change in his/ her activity status. In the case of persons who are first entrants to the labour force, the present spell will be equal to the entire length of unemployment starting from the day such person joins the labour force, i.e., the day since when he/ she was seeking/ available for work. For those who had any previous employment, the present spell will be the period starting from the day they were seeking or available for work after loosing their last employment to the survey date. The spell will be recorded in terms of codes indicating various durations as follows:
only 1 week -1, more than 1 week to 2 weeks -2, more than 2 weeks to 1 month -3, more than 1 month to 2 months -4, more than 2 months to 3 months -5, more than 3 months to 6 months -6, more than 6 months to 12 months -7, more than 12 months -8.