Outlook Business Desk
India’s unemployment rate declined to 5.1% in August 2025, signalling labour market improvement. The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) marked this as the second consecutive monthly fall, after 5.6% in June and 5.2% in July.
Male unemployment reached a five-month low of 5% in August 2025. Urban male joblessness eased from 6.6% in July to 5.9%, while rural male unemployment dropped further to 4.5%, the lowest in five months.
The survey revealed that rural unemployment fell consistently for three consecutive months, dropping from 5.1% in May 2025 to 4.3% in August 2025.
The survey reported a continuous rise in women’s workforce participation, with the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for females increasing for two straight months, reaching 32.0% in August 2025, up from 30.2% in June 2025.
In rural regions, the WPR rose from 33.6% in June to 35.9% in August, while in urban areas it increased from 22.9% to 23.8%. Overall WPR improved to 52.2% in August from 51.2% in June.
Meanwhile, Female labour force participation rate (LFPR) recorded further growth, rising for the second consecutive month across both rural and urban areas. It increased from 32% in June to 33.7% in August, with rural LFPR climbing from 35.2% to 37.4% and urban LFPR from 25.2% to 26.1%.
The overall labour force participation rate increased to 55% in August from 54.2% in June. According to MoSPI, the estimates were drawn from a survey of 3,76,839 rural and 2,15,895 urban residents, covering 5,92,734 individuals.