Unemployment rate declines marginally to 4.9% in 2024: Govt survey

India’s overall unemployment rate witnessed a marginal decline in 2024, even as the labour force participation rate (LFPR) and worker population ratio (WPR) largely remained stable across rural and urban areas, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday.

The all-India unemployment rate under the Current Weekly Status (CWS) declined slightly from 5.0% in 2023 to 4.9% in 2024. Rural unemployment dropped from 4.3% to 4.2%, while the urban unemployment rate held steady at 6.7%.

Among urban males, however, unemployment edged up from 6.0% to 6.1%, while it fell among urban females from 8.9% to 8.2% during the same period.

The overall LFPR in urban areas rose to 51.0% in 2024 from 50.3% a year ago, driven by an increase among males from 74.3% to 75.6% and a slight uptick in female participation from 25.5% to 25.8%. However, the national-level LFPR remained unchanged at 56.2%.

The proportion of employed persons in the population also showed slight improvement in urban areas, increasing from 47.0% to 47.6%, while the all-India WPR in CWS terms moved marginally from 53.4% to 53.5%.

The survey also noted a fall in the proportion of unpaid helpers in household enterprises among rural females, from 19.9% in 2023 to 18.1% in 2024.

Under the Usual Status (Principal and Subsidiary Status combined), which measures activity over a longer reference period, the labour force participation rate at the national level dipped marginally from 59.8% in 2023 to 59.6% in 2024.

The unemployment rate under the Usual Status showed a slight increase from 3.1% to 3.2%, but remained relatively low overall.

The PLFS was launched by the NSO in April 2017 to provide more frequent estimates of key employment indicators. The latest annual report is based on data collected from July 2023 to June 2024 and covers both rural and urban areas.