By Dr. Gyan Pathak
The first of its kind Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)-2025 has revealed that there was no improvement in the employment scenario in the country in 2025. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio (WPR) based on usual status (ps+ss) remained stable in the year 2025 compared with 2024. Though unemployment rate has registered a marginal decline, that is by only 0.1 per cent, it remained stagnant for female.
Though the annual estimates for 2025 may not be strictly comparable with those presented in the previous annual reports, as the PLFS-2025 has warned, it has itself compared the results from previous years. It is worth recalling that from 2025, the sampling design of PLFS has been modified with the claimed objective of generating high-frequency estimates of key labour force indicators. The revised design involves changes in sample allocation, sample selection and rotational panel.
LFPR in usual status (ps+ss) for persons of age 15 years and above observed at 59.3 per cent during 2025 and remained stable compared to 2024, the annual PLFS-2025 says. The same for male and female stood at 79.1% and 40.0%, respectively, in 2025.
The rural male labour force participation remained at 80.5 per cent while rural female participation was only at 45.9 per cent in 2025. The combined rural participation rate thus remained at 62.8 per cent, which is less than 62.9 per cent in 2024.
LFPR in urban areas remained stagnant at 52.2 per cent in 2025 as against the last year. Male LFPR in 2025 in urban areas was 76.2 per cent while the female LFPR was 27.7 per cent.
Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in usual status (ps+ss) for persons of age 15 years and above estimated as 57.4 per cent during 2025, remaining almost at the same level as in 2024. In 2025, the WPR for male and female was 76.6 per cent and 38.8 per cent, respectively.
WPR rural areas declined from 61.4 per cent in 2024, and 61.9 per cent in 2023 to 61.2 per cent in 2025. In 2025, the male WPR in rural areas remained stagnant at 78.4 per cent as it was in 2024. Rural female WPR was 44.9 per cent in 2025.
Urban WPR in 2025 was 49.7 per cent as against 49.6 per cent in 2024. Urban female WPR was 73 per cent and for female it was 25.9 per cent in 2025.
Among male, 69.8% reported want to continue studies as the main reason for not being in the labour force, whereas among female, 44.4% cited child care/personal commitments in home-making as the main reason.
Among male aged 15 years and above, about 82.7% of those with a diploma/certificate, 79.1% of those with graduation and 83.1% of those with post-graduation and above as their highest level of education were in the workforce.
The share of self-employed persons has shown a gradual decline from 2023 to 2025, decreasing from 58.2% in 2023 to 57.5% in 2024 and further to 56.2% in 2025.
Urban self-employed male worked about 17.5 hours more per week than their female counterpart, while in rural areas the difference was around 12.3 hours per week. In regular wage/salaried employment and casual labour, male worked approximately 7.9 hours and 6.9 hours more per week, respectively, than female.
Unemployment Rate (UR) in usual status (ps+ss) for persons aged 15 years and above was 3.1% for both male and female in 2025. For male, this represents a marginal decline from 3.3% in 2024, while for female, the rate remained unchanged.
Rural unemployment rate was 2.4 per cent in usual status for 15 years and above, which was marginally lower than 2.5 per cent in 2024, but at the same level as it was in 2023. Male rural unemployment was 2.6 per cent and female unemployment rate was 2.1 per cent in 2025.
Urban unemployment rate in 2025 was 4.8 per cent for the persons above 15 years. It was 5.2 per cent for urban males and 6.4 per cent for urban females.
Youth (age 15-29 years) unemployment rate in usual status (ps+ss) declined to 9.9 per cent in 2025 from 10.3 per cent in 2024. The unemployment rate among rural youth decreased to 8.3 per cent in 2025 from 8.7 per cent in 2024, whereas among urban youth it remained high but fell to 13.6 per cent from 14.3 over the same period.
The unemployed persons cited apply to prospective employers/place or answer job advertisements/ check at factories, work sites followed by seek help from relatives, friends as the efforts mainly undertaken by them to search for work.
The average number of years in formal education among persons with formal education in the age group 15 years and above and 25 years and above was estimated as 10.0 years and 9.8 years, respectively.
In the age group 15 years and above, 67.8 per cent persons were estimated to have at least secondary education. The same is 61.9 per cent in rural areas and 79.7 per cent in urban areas.
Among persons aged 15-59 years, 4.2 per cent reported having received /receiving formal vocational/ technical training. In the age group 15-29 years, the same is estimated as 5.0 per cent.
In the age group 15-59 years, 83.3 per cent male and 51.4 per cent female were in the workforce among those who received formal vocational/ technical training.
In the usual status (ps+ss), 21.0 per cent persons in the age group 15-24 years and 25.0 per cent persons in the age group 15-29 years are estimated to be not in employment, education or training.
Using the projected population figures of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the absolute number of workers aged 15 years and above has been estimated. On average, 61.6 crore persons (aged 15 years and above) were employed, in usual status (ps+ss), in the country during January–December 2025, of which 41.6 crore were male and 20.0 crore were female. (IPA Service)
