India’s unemployment rate eases to 5.2% in July, rural labour market shows resilience: Govt data

India’s unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in July from 5.6% in June, driven by stronger rural labour market conditions, according to the latest government data released on Monday.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among people aged 15 years and above at 54.9% in July, up from 54.2% a month earlier. Rural LFPR stood at 56.9%, compared with 50.7% in urban areas.

Rural-urban employment divide

Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which measures the proportion of employed people in the population, rose to 54.4% in rural areas and 47.0% in urban areas during the month. For women, the WPR remained far lower than for men, at 35.5% in rural areas and 23.5% in urban areas.

The quarterly data for April–June 2025 was also released, which, for the first time, provided comparable estimates for both rural and urban India.

Urban centres face higher joblessness

The unemployment rate during the April–June quarter was estimated at 5.4% among those aged 15 years and above, with rural areas faring better at 4.8% compared to 6.8% in urban centres.

Self-employment dominated in rural India, accounting for 55.3% of men and 71.6% of women workers, while urban areas saw a higher share of regular wage or salaried jobs.

Agriculture remained the mainstay for rural employment, while the services sector was the largest employer in cities.

On average, 56.4 crore people aged 15 years and above were employed in India in April–June, including nearly 16.7 crore women, the data showed.

Considering the need for high-frequency labour force indicators with enhanced coverage, the sampling methodology of PLFS has been revamped from January 2025.

At an all-India level, 7,519 first-stage sampling units were surveyed in July.

The number of households surveyed was 89,505 (49,355 in rural areas and 40,150 in urban areas), and the number of persons surveyed was 3,79,222 (2,16,832 in rural areas and 1,62,390 in urban areas).