PLFS Oct 2025: India’s Unemployment Rate Holds Stable at 5.2%; Female Labor Force Participation Shows Consistent Rise

Nov 17, 2025

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 5: Gender Equality

Institutions: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) | NITI Aayog

The National Statistics Office (NSO) has released the Monthly Bulletin for the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for October 2025. The report shows the overall Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above remained stable at 5.2%, unchanged from September 2025. This headline stability was supported by a rising Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), which hit a six-month high of 55.4%, and a rising Worker Population Ratio (WPR) at 52.5%.

However, this overall stability masks significant divergent trends across demographics. The female UR (aged 15+) saw a sharp decline, dropping 0.5 percentage points from 4.5% in September 2025 to 4.0% in October 2025. In contrast, the male UR remained stable at 5.1%. This stability in the male rate was itself an aggregation of two opposing movements: a minor decrease in rural male UR (4.7% to 4.6%) was offset by a slight rise in urban male UR (6.0% to 6.1%). The most positive trend was the consistent rise in the overall female WPR for the fourth consecutive month.

The sharp 0.5% drop in the female unemployment rate, coupled with a rising female WPR, signals that the labor market is successfully absorbing the consistent rise in female labor force participation. However, the slight increase in urban male unemployment (to 6.1%) suggests potential emerging friction in urban job markets, even as the national picture remains stable.

The pressure on the urban male job market was a continuing trend from the previous quarter (July–September 2025) , but the sharp improvement in female employment was a new and positive development in the October 2025 monthly data.

What is the Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and how does it differ from the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)? → The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) is the percentage of persons in the population (aged 15 years and above) who are employed. The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is the percentage of persons in the population who are either employed (working) or unemployed (actively seeking work). The simultaneous rise of both the LFPR and WPR in this report is a positive sign, indicating that more people are entering the labor force and a larger share of them are successfully finding employment.

Follow the full report here: Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for October 2025.