कौन ज़िम्मेदार? KaunZimmedar

India at work

The official employment picture, from the government's own Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) — read the numbers yourself. Latest release: 2025 (Jan–Dec). All figures: usual status, ages 15 and above. Source: PLFS Annual Report 2025 (January–December 2025), MoSPI ↗

3.1%
Unemployment rate
59.3%
In the labour force
57.4%
Actually working

Women's participation, the long climb

Female labour-force participation (older annual July–June series)
23.3% 41.7% 2017–18 2023–24 ▲ 18.4 points

Youth joblessness runs far above the national rate

Unemployment rate in 2025, against the all-ages rate
All ages (15+)3.1%Rural youth8.3%×2.7All youth 15–299.9%×3.2Urban youth13.6%×4.4

The more you study, the harder work is to find

Unemployment rate in 2025, everyone vs those with secondary schooling or more
Everyone (15+)3.1%Secondary+ educated6.5%×2.1

Most Indians work for themselves, not for a salary

How the workforce is engaged, 2025
56.2%23.6%20.0%Self-employedRegular salariedCasual labour

The workforce is still overwhelmingly male

Labour-force participation rate in 2025, by sex
Women40.0%Men79.1%×2.0
Why women stay out of the workforce. Among women not in the labour force, 44.4% cite child care and home-making as the main reason. And among those who do work, men put in 12–17 hours a week more paid work than women — the mirror image of women's unpaid work at home. (PLFS 2025.)

What these mean: the unemployment rate is the share of people in the labour force (working or seeking work) who couldn't find work; participation (LFPR) is the share of all adults in the labour force; the employment split is how workers are engaged. Usual-status basis. Note: from 2025 PLFS moved to a calendar-year, monthly survey — the long-run female-participation chart uses the older July–June annual series and is labelled as such. Government job-creation claims placed beside these numbers are coming next.