Unemployment rate drops for the second consecutive month in August to 5.1%

The participation of women in the workforce rose to 32% in August from 30.2% in June for the second month in a row. India’s graduate unemployment rate, which dropped from 35.4% in 2017-18, the first year of the periodic labor force survey, to 28.0% in 2022-23, should fall further in the coming years. New -Delhi: The unemployment rate in India dropped slightly to 5.1%in August, according to the data from the Statistics Ministery. The rate dropped from 5.2% in July and 5.6% in June for the second consecutive month. The participation of women in the workforce rose to 32% in August from 30.2% in June for the second month in a row, according to the Statistics Ministry’s monthly periodic workforce survey (PLFS). According to the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation Statement (MOSPI), the Government has amended the PLFS survey methodology in January this year to provide monthly and quarterly data on the country’s workforce, with the first such monthly bulletin coming in April. The male unemployment rate has alleviated 5%to a five -month low, the ministry said. There was a marginal increase in the total participation in the Labor Force (LFPR) in August from 54.2% in June 2025 to 55% in August 2025. To be sure, the LFPR of women remained at about 32-33%, less than half of the LFPR of about 77%. While the rural unemployment rate in August reduced to 4.3% from 5.1% in May, the urban unemployment rate in August remained higher at 6.7%, lower than 7.2% a month ago. The monthly bulletin was a recording of nearly 377,000 individuals, the ministry said. India’s most important employment indicator, the worker-population ratio for all ages increased from 38.2% in 2019-20 to 43.7% in 2023-24, according to the annual Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) executed by MOSPI. The survey was conducted annually for the July-June period, and the 2023-24 report was published in September 2024. Job creation was a decisive factor in India for the broader political economy. This was an important topic of debate during the 2024 general election, with opposition parties emphasizing issues related to unemployment and wage growth. In a Citigroup report in July 2024, it is said that although the economy is growing rapidly, India is still struggling to create enough work, received a shocking response from the Union Labor Ministry. The Ministry of Labor said that private employment data is using definitions that do not match national or international standards. It is also said that the Citigroup report did not take into account the PLFS data or RBI data on employment.