India unemployment rate rises to 5.6% May vs 5.1% Apr, says statistics min
This story was originally published at 19:07 IST on 16 June 2025
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--MoSPI: All-India unemployment rate 5.6% in May vs 5.1% in Apr
--MoSPI: All-India labour force participation rate 41.4% in May vs 42.0% Apr
--CONTEXT: MoSPI releases Periodic Labour Force Survey for May
--MoSPI: All-India rural unemployment rate 5.1% in May vs 4.5% in Apr
--MoSPI: All-India urban unemployment rate 6.9% in May vs 6.5% in Apr
NEW DELHI – India's unemployment rate rose to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April as joblessness increased in both rural and urban areas, according to the monthly Periodic Labour Force Survey from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released Monday. The joblessness rate rose to 6.9% in urban areas in May from 6.5% in the previous month, and to 5.1% in rural areas last month from 4.5% in April.
The statistics ministry now releases unemployment data on a monthly basis for both rural and urban areas. Previously, the ministry only released quarterly urban unemployment data, and annual data for both urban and rural areas. The ministry will release the Apr-Jun unemployment data for urban and rural India in August.
The labour force participation rate--the percentage of persons working or seeking or available for work--moderated to 41.4% last month from 42.0% in April. The worker population ratio, which is the percentage of employed persons in the population, declined to 39.0% in May from 39.8% in the previous month.
"The decline in LFPR (labour force participation rate) and WPR (worker population ratio) and the rise in UR (unemployment rate) were driven largely by seasonal agricultural patterns, higher summer temperature experienced in May in some parts of the country due to which physical outdoor work gets limited, and movement of some unpaid helpers to domestic chores, especially in the higher income rural households," the ministry said in a release.
The labour force participation rate last month was higher in rural areas at 42.2% compared to 39.7% in urban areas. The participation rate was sharply higher for men than for women. The all-India labour force participation rate was 57.5% for men and 25.5% for women in May. The participation rate was lowest for women in urban areas at 20.2%.
"Decline in female LFPR (labour force participation rate), especially in rural areas, (is) due to fewer women working as casual labourers and unpaid helpers," the ministry said. "Reduction in agricultural activities with the end of Rabi harvest season for both male and female in the rural areas may have brought about the downward shift in number of workers."
At an all-India level, the unemployment rate was higher for women at 5.7% in May, while for men it was 5.6%. The joblessness rate was highest for young women in urban areas. In May, the urban unemployment rate for women aged between 15 and 29 years was 24.4%. It was 15.8% for men in the same category. End
Reported by Shubham Rana
Edited by Rajeev Pai
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