New Delhi: India’s overall unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent in August 2025, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday. The rate declined for the second month in a row — from 5.6 percent in June to 5.2 percent in July and now 5.1 percent in August. The unemployment rate among men aged 15 years and above dropped to 5.0 percent in August, the lowest since April 2025. Urban male unemployment fell from 6.6 percent in July to 5.9 percent in August, while rural male unemployment decreased to 4.5 percent.
The rural unemployment rate continued its steady decline for three consecutive months, from 5.1 percent in May to 4.3 percent in August. The combined rural and urban unemployment rate now stands at 5.1 percent. Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for women increased to 32.0 percent in August, compared with 30.2 percent in June. Rural female WPR rose from 33.6 percent in June to 35.9 percent in August, while urban female WPR increased from 22.9 percent in June to 23.8 percent in August.
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for women improved from 32.0 percent in June to 33.7 percent in August. Rural female LFPR rose from 35.2 percent in June to 37.4 percent in August, while urban female LFPR increased from 25.2 percent in June to 26.1 percent in August. The overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) also climbed to 52.2 percent in August, compared with 51.2 percent in June, and the overall LFPR for persons aged 15 years and above rose from 54.2 percent in June to 55 percent in August.
The August 2025 bulletin is based on responses from 376,839 individuals, including 215,895 in rural areas and 160,944 in urban areas. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by NSO, MoSPI, is the primary source of data on activity participation and employment-unemployment conditions of the population. Since January 2025, the PLFS survey methodology has been modified to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators. Monthly results of PLFS are released in the form of bulletins presenting estimates of key labour market indicators such as LFPR, WPR and Unemployment Rate (UR) at the all-India level following the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. The August 2025 bulletin is the fifth in this monthly series, following the releases for April to July 2025.