Unemployment rate dips a tad to 4.9% from 5%: Periodic Labour Force Survey
Urban unemployment rate, however, remains stable at 6.7% in 2024 due to female unemployment falling from 8.9% to 8.2%
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Overall unemployment saw a minor drop, from 5 per cent to 4.9 per cent for calendar year 2024, but the urban male unemployment rose to 6.1 percent from 6 per cent, stated Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released on Wednesday
The urban unemployment rate, however, remained stable at 6.7 per cent owing to female unemployment declining from 8.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent in the same period, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said while putting out the PLFS.
The trend was visible in rural areas too, as there is a marginal decline in overall unemployment, from 4.3 per cent to 4.2 per cent, with slight reductions for both men and women.
In urban areas, Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), which is the percentage of the working-age population either employed or actively seeking employment, increased for males from 74.3 per cent in 2023 to 75.6 per cent in 2024, and slightly for females, from 25.5 per cent to 25.8 per cent, leading to an overall rise in LFPR, from 50.3 per cent to 51.0 per cent, said the Ministry.
Overall LFPR remained constant at 56.2 per cent, despite minor variations across categories.
Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which is percentage of employed persons in the population, saw slight improvements across all categories, particularly in the overall WPR (47 per cent to 47.6 per cent) in urban areas.
At all India level overall WPR remained relatively unchanged, from 53.4 per cent to 53.5 per cent.
The Survey suggested that the decline in unpaid helpers in household enterprises seems to have contributed to the drop in WPR as well as LFPR among rural females, as the percentage of “helpers in Household Enterprises” decreased from 19.9 per cent to 18.1 per cent from 2023 to 2024.
The LFPR remained largely stable between 2023 and 2024, though there were some variations across rural and urban areas. At the national level, the overall LFPR remained nearly unchanged, with a marginal decline from 59.8 per cent to 59.6 per cent, as per the PLFS.
The WPR followed a similar pattern. At the all-India level, WPR recorded a marginal decline, moving from 58.0 per cent to 57.7 per cent, indicating a slight drop in employment despite stable participation rates.
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Published on April 9, 2025
