The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Quarterly Bulletin for July–September 2025 released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), shows a continued improvement in labour market indicators, with higher female participation and a marginal fall in unemployment rate.
According to the report, the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among persons aged 15 years and above stood at 55.1% in July–September 2025, compared to 55.0% in the previous quarter. The rise was observed in both rural and urban areas, with rural LFPR inching up from 57.1% to 57.2% and urban LFPR from 50.6% to 50.7%.
Female participation in the workforce continued its upward trend. The female LFPR rose to 33.7% in July–September 2025 from 33.4% in April–June 2025, driven largely by rural women, whose participation increased from 37.0% to 37.5% over the same period.
Reflecting this trend, the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) also registered a modest gain, reaching 52.2% during July–September 2025, up from 52.0% in the previous quarter. The overall female WPR improved to 32.0%, compared to 31.6% earlier, indicating a steady rise in women’s engagement with the labour market.
The unemployment rate (UR) among persons aged 15 years and above declined to 5.2% in July–September 2025 from 5.4% in April–June 2025. The fall was mainly due to reduced unemployment in rural areas, where the rate dropped from 4.8% to 4.4%. In contrast, urban unemployment showed a slight increase, with male UR rising from 6.1% to 6.2% and female UR from 8.9% to 9.0%.
The survey found that self-employment continued to dominate in rural India, accounting for 62.8% of the workforce, up from 60.7% in the previous quarter. In urban areas, regular wage and salaried employment remained the largest category, rising slightly to 49.8% from 49.4%.
Sector-wise, rural employment remained concentrated in agriculture, which engaged 57.7% of the rural workforce during the quarter, compared to 53.5% earlier—reflecting seasonal agricultural activity. In urban areas, the tertiary sector continued to dominate, employing 62.0% of workers, up from 61.7% in the last quarter.
Using projected population figures of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the NSO estimated that an average of 56.2 crore persons aged 15 years and above were employed in the country during July–September 2025. This included 39.6 crore males and 16.6 crore females.
The estimates are based on responses from 5,64,828 individuals, including 3,22,992 in rural areas and 2,41,836 in urban areas.
The PLFS has been redesigned from January 2025 to generate monthly and quarterly labour force indicators for both rural and urban areas under the Current Weekly Status (CWS) framework, enabling higher-frequency and more comprehensive labour market monitoring.
The complete PLFS Quarterly Bulletin (July–September 2025) is available on the Ministry’s website: www.mospi.gov.in
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