Unemployment falls slightly to 6.7% in October-December quarter: Government survey

The proportion of self-employed people aged 15 years and above in rural areas increased to 63.2% during October-December 2025, up from 62.8% recorded in the July-September quarter.

New Delhi: The rate of unemployment among persons aged 15 years and above in cities declined marginally to 6.7 per cent in October-December 2025 from 6.9 per cent in the pervious quarter, showed a government survey released on Tuesday.

In rural areas, the unemployment rate (UR) or joblessness among those aged 15 years and above declined to 4 per cent in October-December 2025 from 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter (July-September 2025), helped by lower unemployment rates among rural males as well as females, according to the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The urban unemployment rate for the 15-year-old and above decreased to 6.7 per cent as compared to 6.9 per cent reported in the preceding quarter. The lower rate of unemployment was driven by a decline in urban male UR from 6.2 per cent during July-September, 2025, to 5.9 per cent in the quarter under review, it stated.

Both rural and urban UR among persons aged 15 years and above declined during October-December 2025.

The proportion of self-employed people aged 15 years and above in rural areas increased to 63.2 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 62.8 per cent recorded in the July-September quarter.

In urban areas, the share of self-employed persons of the same age group stood at 39.7 per cent during the quarter ending December 2025, compared to 39.3 per cent recorded in July-September 2025.

About the concentration of rural workforce in the primary sector and urban workforce in the tertiary sector, the data showed that rural areas maintained a similar pattern, with a majority of workers engaged in the agriculture sector, accounting for 58.5 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 57.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

In urban areas, the tertiary sector remained stable, engaging 61.9 per cent of workers during October-December 2025.

Taking reference from the projected population figures of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the NSO data also estimated the absolute number of workers aged 15 years and above.

During July–September 2025, an average of 56.2 crore persons were employed in the country, comprising 39.6 crore males and 16.6 crore females.

The figure increased to 57.4 crore during October–December 2025, of which 40.2 crore were males and 17.2 crore were females.

The quarterly estimates are based on information collected from a total of 5,61,108 persons surveyed across the country.

The survey methodology has been modified since January 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators for both rural and urban India based on the CWS (current weekly status) framework.

Earlier, PLFS quarterly bulletins released until December 2024 presented labour market indicators only for urban areas.

The bulletin for April–June 2025 marked the first in the series to provide estimates for both rural and urban areas, and the current bulletin for October–December 2025 is the third in the series.

According to the latest bulletin, the overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) witnessed a modest increase.

LFPR among those aged 15 years and above increased to 55.8 per cent during October-December 2025, compared to 55.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

In rural areas, LFPR increased to 58.4 per cent in the quarter ending December from 57.2 per cent observed during July-September 2025.

Urban LFPR for the same age group remained broadly steady during the period from April-June 2025 to October-December.

LFPR of females showed an upward trend, increasing to 34.9 per cent in October-December from 33.7 per cent in the previous quarter. This was driven by an increase in female LFPR in rural areas from 37.5 per cent in July-September 2025 to 39.4 per cent in October-December.

However, female LFPR in urban areas remained stable.

Also, the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for those aged 15 years and above rose to 53.1 per cent in October-December as compared to 52.2 per cent in July-September 2025, mainly contributed by an increased workforce participation in rural areas.

WPR of females continued to improve during the last two quarters, reflecting a positive shift in women's engagement in the workforce.

WPR rose to 53.1 per cent in October-December from 52.2 per cent observed in the previous quarter, the data showed.