Unemployment Rate in India Falls Again in August 2025 Under PLFS, Hits 5.1%.

In August 2025, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), reported that India’s overall Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons aged 15 and above dropped to 5.1%, marking the second consecutive month of decline since June.

      - The overall UR was 5.6% in June 2025, declined to 5.2% in July, and further to 5.1% in August under the Current Weekly Status (CWS) method, showing consistent improvement in the labour market.

      - Among males aged 15+, the UR in August dropped to 5.0%, the lowest in five months; urban male unemployment fell from 6.6% in July to 5.9% in August, and rural male UR declined to about 4.5%.

      - The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for females rose to 32.0% in August 2025, up from 30.2% in June and 31.6% in July, indicating increased proportions of women finding work or engaging in economic activity.

Main Point :-   (i) Overall WPR (persons aged 15+) improved to 52.2% in August, up from 51.2% in June, showing more people are working or capable of working.

      (ii) Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) saw consecutive monthly rises, reaching 33.7% in August 2025, up from 32.0% in June, with increases in both rural (from ~ 35.2% in June to ~ 37.4%) and urban areas (from ~ 25.2% to ~ 26.1%) during the same period.

(iii) The sample size for August’s PLFS survey was 376,839 persons, of which 215,895 were rural and 160,944 urban respondents. The survey’s modified methodology (effective since January 2025) provides monthly CWS-based estimates of key labour indicators: UR, LFPR, WPR.