Urban labour force participation rises to 50.4% in July-September 2024: Govt data

Urban India’s labour market showed signs of improvement in the July-September 2024 quarter, with the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for people aged 15 and above rising to 50.4% from 49.3% in the same period last year, according to government data.

For men, the LFPR grew from 73.8% to 75.0%, while for women, it moved up from 24.0% to 25.5%, showed the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which measures the share of employed individuals in the population, also improved from 46.0% to 47.2% over the year. For men, the WPR rose from 69.4% to 70.7%, while for women, it went up from 20.6% to 21.8%.

Unemployment in urban areas saw a marginal dip as the rate fell from 6.6% to 6.4%. Male unemployment declined from 6.0% to 5.7%, while female unemployment eased from 8.6% to 8.4%.

The PLFS, which was launched in 2017, aims to provide timely insights into employment trends in urban areas. It collects data quarterly using the Current Weekly Status (CWS), which reflects activity during the week before the survey.

For the July-September 2024 quarter, the survey covered 5,739 urban areas, gathering data from 45,005 households and over 1.7 lakh individuals.

While there were delays in a few regions such as Maharashtra, Manipur, and Kerala, most of the planned fieldwork was completed on schedule, according to the ministry.