Female Labour Force Participation Rises; Unemployment Rate Declines: PLFS Report

new delhi: the periodic labour force survey (plfs) quarterly bulletin for july-september 2025 has reported a marginal improvement in labour market indicators, with female participation and overall employment showing steady gains.according to the national statistical office (nso), the labour force participation rate (lfpr) among persons aged 15 years and above increased slightly to 55.1% from 55.0% in the previous quarter. female lfpr continued its upward trend, rising to 33.7% from 33.4%, driven mainly by rural women's participation.the worker population ratio (wpr) also improved to 52.2%, while the unemployment rate (ur) declined to 5.2% from 5.4% in april-june 2025. rural unemployment fell to 4.4%, though a marginal uptick was seen in urban areas.self-employment remained dominant in rural india, rising to 62.8%, while the share of regular wage and salaried employment in urban areas grew modestly to 49.8%. the agriculture sector employed 57.7% of the rural workforce due to kharif operations, while the tertiary sector accounted for 62.0% of urban employment.the revamped plfs methodology now provides monthly and quarterly estimates for both rural and urban india under the current weekly status (cws) framework.