India’s unemployment rate falls for second month, women’s share in workforce goes up

The unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above declined for the second month in a row in August, to 5.1 per cent, according to a government survey released on Monday.

The unemployment rate (UR) was 5.2 per cent in July and 5.6 per cent in both May and June, showed the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

The UR was 5.1 per cent in April as per the first PLFS bulletin released in May 2025 “Overall unemployment rate (persons of 15 years and above) declined for the second consecutive month from 5.6 per cent in June 2025 to 5.2 per cent in July 2025 and 5.1 per cent in August 2025,” an official statement said.

The latest data collected in current weekly status (CWS) showed that the unemployment rate for persons of age of 15 years and above during worked out at 5.1 per cent in August.

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Male unemployment rate in August 2025 was at its lowest of 5 per cent in five months in August 2025. It was 5.2 per cent in April, 5.6 per cent in May and June, and 5.3 per cent in July.

This is due to the fall in UR of males in urban areas from 6.6 per cent in July 2025 to 5.9 per cent in August 2025.

The UR among rural males also declined to 4.5 per cent in August 2025 which is lower than the UR levels of the previous four months.

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Overall, rural unemployment rate has declined successively for three months in a row from 5.1 per cent in May 2025 to 4.3 per cent in August 2025 The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) among females has witnessed a rise for two months in a row to 32 per cent in August 2025 from 30.2 per cent recorded in June 2025.

The enhancement in WPR across both rural and urban areas has translated into an improvement in the overall WPR, which has increased to 52.2 per cent in August 2025 from 51.2 per cent in June 2025.

The labour force participation rate (LFPR) among females aged 15 years and above has increased from 32 per cent in June 2025 to 33.7 per cent in August 2025 due to increase in LFPR among rural females from 35.2 per cent in June 2025 to 37.4 per cent and in urban areas from 25.2 per cent to 26.1 per cent during the same period.

Female LFPR increased for the second successive month across rural and urban areas, it stated.

The overall LFPR for persons of age 15 years and above has increased from 54.2 per cent in June to 55 per cent in August 2025.

At the all-India level, the monthly estimates are based on information collected from a total number of persons surveyed 3,76,839.

CWS refers to the activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of the last seven days preceding the date of the survey.

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) defines the proportion of those who are employed among the total population.

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