Unemployment Rate Declines in July-September 2025
Context:
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report for the second quarter of 2025-26 (July-September)
This is the second quarterly report under the revamped methodology that provides estimates for both rural and urban India.
The data is based on the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach.
Key Findings on Unemployment:
The all-India Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above declined to 5.2 per cent in July-September 2025 (down from 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter)
Rural vs. Urban:
The trend was divergent.
Rural UR saw a decline to 4.4% from 4.8%
Urban UR experienced an uptick of 10 basis points to 6.9%.
Urban female unemployment rose to 9.0%
Youth Unemployment:
The rate for those aged 15-29 years edged up to 14.8%.
The rise was noteworthy in urban areas, where it hit 18.4%, with young urban women at 25.3%
Employment Trends:
In urban areas, the share of salaried jobs rose to 49.8%.
This included a rise for both males (to 48%) and females (to 55.5%)
In rural areas, salaried jobs, which are a smaller portion of employment, declined to 15%
Sectoral Employment:
In rural areas, the share of employment in the agriculture sector rose significantly from 53.5% to 57.7%.
This is attributed to Kharif agricultural operations
Female LFPR:
The overall Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) showed an upward momentum, increasing to 33.7%.