New Delhi: The unemployment rate in the country remained flat at 5.6 per cent in June compared to May this year, according to the government data released on Tuesday.
In April this year, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation released the first monthly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) as part of efforts to monitor the proportion of unemployed people among those eligible for jobs in the country in real-time.
The latest data collected in the current weekly status (CWS) showed that the unemployment rate (UR) for persons of all ages during June and May in 2025 remained unchanged at 5.6 per cent, slightly higher than 5.1 per cent in April this year.
The pace of joblessness among females and males remained unchanged at 5.6 per cent at the country level in June 2025.
The UR for females declined to 5.6 per cent in the last month against 5.8 per cent in May this year.
Joblessness among those in the age group of 15-29 increased to 15.3 per cent in June from 15 per cent in May 2025 across the country.
The rate of unemployment in urban areas rose to 18.8 per cent in June from 17.9 per cent in the preceding month, while it was 13.8 per cent in the month under review, up from 13.7 per cent in the previous month in rural areas.
CWS refers to the activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of the last 7 days preceding the date of the survey.
The decrease in the unemployment rate for rural areas for both males and females can be attributed to an increase in the share of own-account workers in June 2025 compared to May 2025, along with a reduction in the number of unemployed persons, it noted.
The rise in own-account work during this period may be driven by seasonal factors, prompting individuals to engage in small-scale or self-initiated activities, such as petty trade, repair work, and services, it stated.
The survey further showed that the unemployment rate among women in the age group of 15-29 also increased to 17.4 per cent in the last month against 16.3 per cent in May across the country, inclusive of both rural and urban areas.
The joblessness rate also grew to 25.8 per cent in June from 24.4 per cent in May in cities and to 13.7 per cent in the previous month from 13 per cent in May in villages.
Joblessness among men aged 15-29 years rose to 14.7 per cent in June from 14.5 per cent in May.
It also climbed to 16.6 per cent in June compared to 15.8 per cent in the preceding month in cities, whereas in villages, the joblessness rate dipped to 13.8 per cent in June from 14 per cent.
Further, the data showed that the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among persons aged 15 years and above was 54.2 per cent during June 2025 as compared to 54.8 per cent during May 2025.
In rural areas, the LFPR among individuals aged 15 years was 56.1 per cent and that in urban areas stood at 50.4 per cent during June 2025 in the said age group.
The LFPR in CWS for males aged 15 years and above in rural and urban areas was 78.1 per cent and 75.0 per cent, respectively, during June 2025, which marked a marginal decline from the corresponding LFPR estimates of 78.3 per cent and 75.1 per cent, respectively, for rural and urban areas during May 2025.
Among females aged 15 years and above, the LFPR was 35.2 per cent for rural areas during the reported month.
The marginal decline in LFPR and Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in June 2025 was largely influenced by seasonal agricultural patterns, intense summer heat limiting outdoor physical work, and a shift of some unpaid helpers, particularly from higher-income rural households, towards domestic chores, it stated.
This trend was more pronounced among rural females, where over a 1-percentage point decline in workforce participation was observed compared to May 2025, primarily due to a reduction in unpaid helpers typically engaged in agricultural work, it stated.