Unemployment rate dips in July–September quarter; female labour participation rises: Govt data

India’s female labour force participation rate continued to improve in the September quarter while overall unemployment edged lower, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday.

The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above rose marginally to 55.1% during the quarter, up from 55.0% in April–June 2025, the PLFS data showed.

Female participation continued to climb, with the female LFPR increasing to 33.7% in July–September 2025 from 33.4% in the previous quarter. The gain was largely driven by rural areas, where the female LFPR rose to 37.5% from 37.0% earlier.

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), the proportion of employed persons in the total population aged 15 years and above, also inched up to 52.2% from 52.0% in the previous quarter. The increase was mainly due to higher participation by women, particularly in rural regions.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate (UR) fell to 5.2% during July–September 2025, compared to 5.4% in April–June.

The survey showed a divergent trend between rural and urban areas. Rural unemployment declined from 4.8% to 4.4%, while urban unemployment edged up slightly from 6.1% to 6.2% among males and from 8.9% to 9.0% among females.

Self-employment remained the dominant form of work in rural India, accounting for 62.8% of total employment, up from 60.7% in the previous quarter. In contrast, regular wage or salaried employment in urban areas rose modestly to 49.8% from 49.4%.

The rural workforce continued to be concentrated in agriculture, where employment share increased to 57.7% from 53.5%. In urban areas, the tertiary sector’s share of employment inched up to 62.0% from 61.7%.

Using population projections from the Health Ministry, the NSO estimated that 56.2 crore people aged 15 years and above were employed across India during the September quarter.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey, conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), underwent a methodological revamp in January 2025 to generate monthly and quarterly estimates for both rural and urban areas.