SYLLABUS

GS-3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. 

Context: Recently, the second quarterly PLFS under the new series was released, which presents estimates of key labour force indicators. 

Key Findings 

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): Overall LFPR for persons aged 15 and above stabilized at 55.1% during July-September 2025, compared to 55.0% in the previous quarter.  

• A slight uptick was observed in both rural and urban areas, with rural LFPR inching up from 57.1% to 57.2%, and urban LFPR also rising slightly from 50.6% to 50.7%.

• Female LFPR: The overall LFPR among females of age 15 years and above increased to 33.7% in July-September 2025 from 33.4% in the previous quarter.

• The increase was largely driven by an increase in female LFPR in rural areas from 37.0% to 37.5% in the same period. 

• Unemployment Rate (UR): Overall unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above declined to 5.2% in July–September 2025 from 5.4% in the previous quarter. 

• The UR saw divergent trends across rural and urban areas. While Rural unemployment declined from 4.8% to 4.4%, Urban unemployment edged up slightly from 6.8% to 6.9%. 

• Worker Population Ratio (WPR): The WPR rose marginally to 52.2% from 52.0%, with rural WPR at 54.7% and urban WPR at 47.2% for persons aged 15 years and above. 

• The overall female WPR rose to 32.0% in July–September 2025, up from 31.6% in the previous quarter. 

• Employment Types: 

• Self-employment dominated rural employment, increasing from 60.7% to 62.8%.
• In urban areas, regular wage or salaried employment showed marginal improvement, rising from 49.4% to 49.8%.

• Sectoral Employment: 

• Rural workforce continued to concentrate in agriculture, with its share rising from 53.5% to 57.7%, attributed to seasonal agricultural activity.
• Urban workforce was largely employed in the tertiary sector, which engaged 62.0% of urban workers, slightly higher than 61.7% in the previous quarter.

About Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 

• The PLFS was conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• It serves as the key data source on labour market activity and employment-unemployment trends throughout India.

• Methodological Revamp from January 2025:

• From January 2025, the PLFS underwent a comprehensive methodological update with wider coverage across both rural and urban India under the Current Weekly Status (CWS) framework. 
• This redesign introduced monthly and quarterly estimation cycles for key employment indicators to better capture labour market dynamics.

• Objectives of the Redesigned PLFS

• To release monthly national-level estimates of Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) for rural and urban areas under the CWS framework.
• To expand quarterly PLFS coverage to include rural areas, enabling nationwide quarterly labour market estimates under CWS.
• To provide annual estimates of key employment and unemployment indicators under both Usual Status and Current Weekly Status for rural and urban areas.

• Coverage and Reporting Enhancements

• The April-June 2025 bulletin marked the first time that estimates for both rural and urban populations were included. 
• The July-September 2025 bulletin further builds on this by presenting the number of workers in absolute terms alongside key indicators. 
• Additionally, this bulletin offers state-level estimates of LFPR, WPR, and UR for selected states, again separately for rural and urban regions.

Sources:
PIB
The Hindu