Unemployment rate among people aged 15 and above falls in rural and urban areas in October-December: PLFS | India News

NEW DELHI: Unemployment rate in rural areas for the age group 15 years and above fell to 4 per cent in October-December 2025 from 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter, as the unemployment rate fell for both men and women in rural areas.Quarterly data from the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) released on Tuesday showed that the urban unemployment rate for those aged 15 and above slowed slightly to 6.7%, down slightly from 6.9% in the previous quarter. Among them, the urban male unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% in July to September to 5.9% in the three months to October.The overall labor force participation rate (LFPR) for those aged 15 and over rose slightly to 55.8% between October and December, compared with 55.1% in the previous quarter. The LFPR for women in the same age group rose to 34.9% from October to December, up from 33.7% from July to September 2025.The data also showed that from October to December, the proportion of self-employed people in rural areas rose to 63.2%, compared with 62.8% in the previous quarter. In urban areas, the share of self-employed people in the same age group rose slightly to 39.7% between October and December 2025, compared with 39.3% in the three months to July.The agricultural sector continues to dominate rural employment, accounting for 58.5% of employed people aged 15 and over in October-December, up from 57.7% in July-September 2025. In urban areas, the tertiary sector remained stable, accounting for 61.9% of the workforce in the three months to December 2025.The average number of people employed in the country in the July-September quarter was 562 million, including 396 million men and 166 million women. The figure increased to 574 million rupees in the three months to December, of which 402 million were men and 172 million were women, the data showed.