According to the country’s first monthly labor force data released by the country’s statistics and program implementation on Thursday, India’s unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in April 2025.The release marked a significant change in employment monitoring, as the job figures were published only on quarterly and annual bases.The Ministry launched the Monthly Period Labor Force Survey (PLFS), which provides real -time insight into the proportion of unemployed people among eligible people to work. Data based on the current weekly status (CWS), which uses the last seven days as a reference period – was observed that the unemployment rate in April was 5.1 percent for individuals of all ages.News agency PTI reported that unemployment rate for men was 5.2 percent higher than 5 percent in women.Among the youth between the ages of 15 to 29, the overall unemployment rate was more than 13.8 percent. Urban areas reported a high unemployed rate of 17.2 percent, while rural unemployment was recorded at 12.3 percent.Within the age group of 15–29, women suffered a high unemployment burden. The national unemployment rate for young women was 14.4 percent, with one urban -rural division -23.7 percent in cities and 10.7 percent in villages. Among men in the same age group, unemployment was recorded at national level 13.6 percent, 15 percent in urban areas and 13 percent in rural areas.The labor force’s participation rate (LFPR) was 55.6 percent in April 2025 among persons aged 15 and above. This figure was higher in rural areas (58 percent) than urban areas (50.7 percent).For men aged 15 and above, LFPR was 79 percent in rural areas and 75.3 percent in urban centers. Among women in the same age group, 38.2 percent participation in rural India was quite low.The LFPR indicates the percentage of the population that is either working, demanding work, or is available for work.Worker Population Ratio (WPR) – Ratio of people employed in the total population – 52.8 percent at the national level in April. In rural areas, WPR was 55.4 percent, while it was 47.4 percent in urban areas.For women aged 15 and above, WPR was 36.8 percent in rural areas and 23.5 percent in urban areas. The overall female WPR across the country was 32.5 percent.To improve granularity and frequency of labor market indicators, the PLFS functioning was changed to January 2025. In April alone, the survey covered 7,511 first-phase sample units across the country. A total of 89,434 houses were surveyed – 49,323 in rural areas and 40,111- 3,80,838 persons (2,17,483 rural and 1,63,355 urban) in urban areas.
