India's district-level unemployment rates revealed: 77.8% of districts below 5.5%

New Delhi: Unemployment rates ranged between 0.5% and 5.5% in 77.8% of districts in India, according to data released by the statistics ministry on Friday.

The data showed that 43.1% of districts had unemployment rates between 0.5% and 3% while 34.7% recorded rates between 3% and 5.5%. Another 14.9% of districts reported unemployment rates above 5.5%, while 7.2% recorded below 0.5%. South 24 Parganas in West Bengal and Araria in Bihar recorded the lowest unemployment rates at 0.9% each, followed by Ahmedabad in Gujarat at 1.1%. The release marks the first publication of district-level estimates under the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), based on the revised sampling design adopted from January 2025.

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The data also highlighted concerns over the share of young people aged 15-29 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

About one-fourth of districts recorded a NEET share of more than 30%. Meanwhile, 45.9% of districts reported NEET shares between 20% and 30%, while 26.1% were in the 10%-20% range and 4.2% reported below 10%.

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Ernakulam in Kerala recorded the lowest NEET share among youth at 9.6%, followed by Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu at 14.5% and Bengaluru Urban in Karnataka at 15%.

More than half of India's districts had a labour force participation rate (LFPR) between 60% and 80% while 46.1% recorded an LFPR between 40% and 60%, stated the report.