The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday released data that shows a slump in the country’s employment in the month of May, driven, to an extent, by a drop in farm activity after the end of the harvest season.
India’s unemployment rose to 5.6 per cent in May from 5.1 per cent in April, said government statistics in the second monthly release of India’s labour force data in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). Earlier, the government would publish employment data on a quarterly basis for urban areas, and annually for both urban and rural areas.
The female unemployment rate stood slightly higher at 5.8 per cent in May, while that for males was 5.6 per cent.
Among urban youth aged 15-29 years, unemployment rate rose to 17.9 per cent in May from 17.2 per cent in April. In rural areas, the rate increased by a higher percentage, from 12.3 per cent to 13.7 per cent.
In rural areas, there has also been seen a shift in employment from traditional agriculture to manufacturing and services industry, especially after the harvest season’s conclusion. The employment rate of farm workers decreased from 45.9 per cent in April to 43.5 per cent in May.
Since women comprise a major part of the rural workforce, unemployment reflected in their data too. From 28.8 per cent in April, labour force participation rate among women fell to 27.8 per cent in May.
While India’s growth is pegged at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal year beginning April, manufacturing growth in the country slowed to a three-month low in May, affected by geopolitical tensions and slower demand owing to price pressures.
Across the country, a total of 7,511 first-stage sampling units were surveyed during May 2025.
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