Unemployment in India: Jobless rate rises to 5.6% in May; women face higher unemployment at 5.8%

Time of India

4 hours ago

India's monthly unemployment rate climbed to 5.6% in May 2025, up from 5.1% in April, according to government data released on Monday. The rise can be largely attributed to seasonal factors and reduced rural employment after the end of the Rabi harvest season, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation said in its report.
Last month, the ministry rolled out the first monthly edition of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), aiming to track the real-time unemployment proportion of unemployed people among those eligible for jobs, PTI reported.
The unemployment rate among women remained slightly higher than that of men in May, at 5.8% compared to 5.6%, as per the latest data collected in the current weekly status.
Age wise unemployment rate
Young people aged 15–29 faced a particularly steep rise in joblessness, with the national rate for this group jumping from 13.8% in April to 15% in May.
Among young women of the same age, including both urban and rural, the figure reached 16.3%, up from 14.4% in the previous month. Meanwhile joblessness among men aged between 15-29 years were recorded at 14.5% in May.
Urban vs rural unemployment rate
Urban and rural areas both experienced an uptick in unemployment.
In urban areas, the rate rose to 17.9% in May from 17.2% a month ago. Rural areas too, saw an increase, from 12.3%, a month ago, reaching 13.7% in May.
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In rural areas, jobs moved away from agriculture, dropping from 45.9% in April to 43.5% in May 2025, with more people finding work in the industrial and services sectors, the report said. This could be due to reduced agricultural activity following the end of the Rabi harvest season for both men and women, the report noted.
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) also declined to 54.8% in May from 55.6% in April.
In urban areas, the LFPR declined to 50.4% from 50.7%.
Rural participation dropped more sharply, falling to 56.9% from 58%.
Among women in rural areas, LFPR saw a major dip from 38.2% to 36.9%, largely due to fewer women working as casual labourers or unpaid helpers. LFPR among males aged 15 years and above also came down to 78.3% in May from 79% in April.
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which measures the proportion of working individuals in the population, also declined. Nationally, it slipped to 51.7% in May from 52.8% in April. Female WPR fell more sharply to 31.3% from 32.5%.
The May survey covered over 89,000 households and nearly 3.8 lakh individuals across both rural and urban India.
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