Labour Force Participation Rate Rises to 55.8% in Oct-Dec 2025: NSO

India's Labour Force Participation Rate rose to 55.8% in Oct-Dec 2025, with female participation notably increasing to 34.9%. The NSO report also showed a decline in unemployment rates in both rural and urban areas during the quarter.

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) Rises

The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among persons aged 15 years and above rose to 55.8 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 55.1 per cent in the previous quarter, according to the latest Quarterly Bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Wednesday.

Female LFPR Sees Significant Increase

The overall LFPR of female aged 15 years and above showed upward trend, increased to 34.9% in October-December, 2025 from 33.7% in the previous quarter, driven by increase in female LFPR in rural areas from 37.5% in the quarter July-September, 2025 to 39.4% in October-December, 2025. However, female LFPR in urban areas remained stable, it said.

Unemployment Rate Declines in Rural and Urban Areas

On the Unemployment Rate (UR) among persons aged 15 years and above, the MoSPI data said in the rural areas, it declined to 4.0% in October-December, 2025 from 4.4% in the previous quarter, driven by reduction in UR for both rural male and female.

The urban unemployment rate for persons of age 15 years and above decreased to 6.7% as compared to 6.9% reported in the previous quarter, driven by a decline in urban male UR from 6.2% during July-September, 2025 to 5.9% in the current quarter.

Worker Population Ratio Improves

The overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above rose to 53.1% in October-December, 2025 as compared to 52.2% in July-September, 2025 mainly driven by the increased workforce participation of persons in rural areas.

The overall WPR of female aged 15 years and above continued to improve during the quarter October-December, 2025 as compared to last two quarters, reflecting a positive shift in women's engagement in the workforce.

Self-Employment and Sectoral Trends

A notable observation was made in the self-employment as the data said the self-employed persons of age 15 years and above in rural areas increased to 63.2% during October- December, 2025, up from 62.8% recorded in the previous quarter July-September, 2025.

In urban areas, self-employed persons of the same age group were reported as 39.7% during October-December 2025.

Agriculture continued to dominate rural employment, accounting for 58.5 per cent of employed persons aged 15 years and above during the quarter, up from 57.7 per cent earlier.

In urban areas, the tertiary sector remained the largest employer, engaging 61.9 per cent of workers.

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