BENGALURU: The country’s unemployment rate in April stood at 5.1% for individuals aged 15 years and above.
This is the first time, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released its monthly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which shows that joblessness among men stood at 5.2%, slightly higher that of women at 5%.
Until now, the survey was released on a quarterly basis, and this monthly PLFS from now on will help in timely policy interventions.
Unemployment among those in the age group of 15-29 stood at 13.8% and the rate of unemployment in rural areas was at 12.3% and in urban areas it was at 17.2%.
Paras Jasrai, Associate Director at India Ratings and Research said the inaugural monthly PLFS data for April 2025 offers a significant improved window in understanding the labour force dynamics of India.
"Although the overall headline unemployment rate (UR) is low at 5.1%, the rural-urban gap is indicative of the job creation pressures in the urban areas (rural UR: 4.5%; urban UR: 6.5%). In terms of age and gender wise UR, the youth UR is higher for females living in urban areas than males (23.7% v 15.0%)," he said.
"However, the situation is the opposite in the rural areas, wherein the youth UR was lower for females compared to males (10.7% v 13.0%)," he said.
He added that this could be due to higher female preferences for education in urban areas than rural areas and low employment opportunities in urban areas than rural areas for females.
Aditya Narayan Mishra, MD & CEO of CIEL HR said unemployment is a real and ongoing challenge, and the government’s decision to release data monthly reflects its intent to monitor and respond more effectively.
"Earlier, long gaps between data collection and publication delayed policy actions. Monthly updates will bring agility and allow for more targeted interventions," he said.
The data showed that the worker population ratio which represents the employment rate, was at 38% in rural areas (15-29 years) and 34.1% in urban areas. The overall employment rate was at 52.8%.