Unemployment rate among young urban females in Rajasthan, Bihar exceeds 50%
Overall Unemployment Rate (UR) declined to 5.2 per cent in July-September 2025 from 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT
Every second urban young woman in Rajasthan and Bihar is unemployed, data from latest Statistics Ministry survey report released on Monday showed. At the national level, every fourth urban young woman is unemployed.
Meanwhile, the report, ‘Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for July-September quarter of 2025-26’, said the overall Unemployment Rate (UR) declined to 5.2 per cent in July-September 2025 from 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter. While the UR in rural areas declined to 4.4 per cent from 4.8 per cent driven by reductions among both rural male and female, urban UR edged up slightly to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 per cent.
UR among urban young women
Data showed UR among urban young female (15-29 years of age) was 25.3 per cent. Among 22 States, Rajasthan had maximum with 53.2 per cent UR, Bihar was second with 52.3 per cent. Himachal Pradesh was third with around 49.4 per cent. UR in 19 states ranges between 9 per cent (Gujarat) and 36.8 per cent (Jharkhand), Although, the report has not given reasons for high UR in these states, but it is believed that social structure in various states could be reason for high rates.
Here the young means those who are in the age bracket of 15-29 years. According to the current weekly status (CWS) approach, a person was considered as unemployed in a week if she/he did not work even for 1 hour on any day during the reference week but sought or was available for work at least for 1 hour on any day during the reference week. The result of survey is based on responses from over 5.64 lakhs persons including over 2.41 lakhs in urban area.
Overall Labour Situation
According to the report, the overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) marginally increased to 55.1 per cent during July-September 2025, compared to 55 per cent in the previous quarter for persons of age 15 years and above. Female participation in the labour force witnessed an increase to 33.7 per cent from 33.4 per cent. LFPR is defined as the percentage of population in the labour force.
Overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) marginally increased to 55.1 per cent during July-September 2025
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons aged 15 years and above exhibited a marginal increase to 52.2 per cent from 52 per cent. The female WPR recorded an increase across all sectors – rural, urban, and overall. WPR is defined as the percentage of workers in the population.
The report also highlighted that urban areas recorded a modest improvement for regular wage/salaried employees to 49.8 per cent from 49.4 per cent. The share of workers engaged in the urban tertiary sector increased marginally to 62 per cent from 61.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
Rural workforce concentrated in agriculture sector while that in urban areas were in tertiary sector. In rural areas majority of workers engaged in the agriculture sector, accounting for 57.7 per cent up from 53.5 per cent in the previous quarter. This increase in the share of rural employment in the agriculture sector can be attributed to seasonal agricultural operations. In the urban areas, the tertiary sector remained dominant, engaging 62 per cent of workers slightly higher than 61.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
Published on November 10, 2025
