India's unemployment rate rises to 3.2% in 2024, driven by women leaving workforce

New Delhi: India's unemployment rate inched up to 3.2% in 2024 from 3.1% in the previous year, driven largely by more women leaving the workforce, official data released on Wednesday showed.

The male unemployment rate increased to 3.3% in 2024 from 3.2% in 2023, while the female rate rose to 3.1% from 3%. The data is for those aged 15 and above.

In contrast, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) fell marginally to 59.6% in 2024 from 59.8% in the year before.

The male LFPR increased to 79.2% in 2024 from 78.3% in 2023. However, female LFPR declined to 40.3% from 41.3% over the same period, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2024, released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI).

The survey, conducted between January and December 2024, covered 101,957 households and 415,549 people.

Previously, the ministry had released annual reports based on data collected from July of one year to June of the following year.

For this survey, estimates were produced by combining samples from the four quarters of 2024.

Urban-rural gap

In rural areas, the unemployment rate increased to 2.5% in 2024 from 2.4% in 2023, while it fell in urban areas to 5% from 5.2%.

Similarly, female unemployment increased in rural areas but declined in the urban areas.

A similar trend is seen in the LFPR, with men continuing to dominate the labour force.

In rural areas, LFPR decreased to 62.9% in 2024 from 63.4% in 2023. On the other hand, it rose in the urban areas to 52.2% from 51.4%.