Jobs tracker: Unemployment steady at 5.6% in June; youth, urban distress up; rural female participation dips

India's unemployment rate stayed flat at 5.6% in June, mirroring the level seen in May, according to data released Tuesday by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

This reading is slightly higher than April’s 5.1%, based on the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) under the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach.The CWS figures reflect employment status over the seven days preceding the survey and aim to capture real-time trends in the labour market, PTI reported.The overall rate of unemployment for men and women remained unchanged at 5.6% in June. However, a closer look at age-based data revealed that the 15-29 age group saw a marginal increase in joblessness, rising to 15.3% in June from 15% in May.Urban-rural divide widens as youth joblessness growsUnemployment in urban India climbed to 18.8% in June, up from 17.9% a month earlier. In rural areas, the rate nudged up slightly to 13.8% from 13.7% in May. Among young women aged 15-29, the jobless rate rose sharply to 17.4% in June, from 16.3% the previous month. For young men, the increase was more modest, from 14.5% to 14.7%.The report attributed a decline in rural unemployment among both genders to a rise in own-account work — informal, self-initiated activities such as small trade or repair work — which often increase due to seasonal demand.

This shift was especially evident among women, who moved out of unpaid agricultural roles into domestic responsibilities, reducing their workforce participation.In cities, however, female joblessness in the 15-29 age bracket spiked to 25.8% in June from 24.4% in May. Among men, the same group saw an increase from 15.8% to 16.6% in urban areas, while rural joblessness among young males declined from 14% to 13.8%.Labour force participation and work ratio soften amid seasonal changesLabour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for those aged 15 years and above slipped to 54.2% in June from 54.8% in May. Rural LFPR stood at 56.1%, while in urban areas it was lower at 50.4%. Male LFPR declined marginally in both rural (to 78.1%) and urban (to 75%) segments. Among rural women, LFPR was 35.2% in June.According to the ministry, the overall dip in LFPR and Worker Population Ratio (WPR) can be attributed to intense summer heat, agricultural seasonality, and a shift of unpaid rural helpers—particularly in affluent households—toward domestic tasks.The WPR, representing the share of employed individuals in the total population, fell to 51.2% in June from 51.7% in May. In rural India, the WPR stood at 53.3%, while it was 46.8% in urban regions. Female WPR was 33.6% in rural areas and 22.9% in urban locales, with a combined female employment rate of 30.2% nationally.Agricultural employment among rural women edges lowerThe share of rural female workers engaged in agriculture declined from 70.2% in May to 69.8% in June.

The report suggested this may reflect falling rural inflation and lower demand for labour in farming sectors.To strengthen high-frequency labour metrics, the government revamped the PLFS sampling design in January 2025. For the quarter ending June 2025, data was collected from 7,520 first-stage units. In total, 89,493 households were surveyed—49,335 in rural areas and 40,158 in urban zones—covering 3,80,538 individuals (2,17,251 rural and 1,63,287 urban).