India’s unemployment rate declined to 5.2% in the July–September 2025 quarter, down from 5.4% in the preceding quarter, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
The fall was largely fuelled by increased employment in rural areas during the monsoon season – the rural unemployment rate fell to 4.4% from 4.8%.
Yet while rural figures improved, the urban unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.9% from 6.8%, highlighting deep structural issues in non-farm sectors.
Female labour-force participation edged up to 33.7% from 33.4%. However, urban women saw an increase in joblessness to 9% from 8.9%.
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) climbed marginally to 52.2%, thanks largely to an uptick in self-employment in rural areas – 62.8% of the rural workforce was engaged in self-employment, up from 60.7%.
Analysts caution that the employment revival remains fragile: gains are rooted in seasonal agricultural activities, rather than sustainable formal job creation. The report emphasises that while headline numbers offer hope, the underlying reliance on low-productivity rural work and persistent urban job pressure pose significant risks for India’s growth ambitions.
Rural Revival Masks Urban Crisis: India’s Unemployment Rate Drops to 5.2% but Structural Weaknesses Persist
