India’s labour market recorded a fall in unemployment and steady employment levels between April and September 2025, signalling improving job conditions, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled in Parliament on January 29, 2026.
The Survey said the unemployment rate declined during the first half of the 2025-26 financial year, while the labour force participation rate stabilised. It reported that 562 million people aged 15 years and above were employed in the second quarter (July-September 2025), marking the creation of 870,000 new jobs compared with the previous quarter.
India can significantly boost long-term economic growth by bringing more women into paid work, the report has suggested.
Employment trends across sectors
The survey said India is undergoing a structural transformation across its roughly 560 million households, driven by digitalisation, the green energy transition, and emerging forms of work such as gig and platform-based employment. Data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and establishment-level information from the Annual Survey of Industries show steady employment conditions, with improving labour force participation, falling unemployment, and job creation across both organised and unorganised sectors.
However, PLFS data also show that rural employment remains dominated by agriculture, which accounts for 57.7 per cent of jobs, and self-employment, which makes up 62.8 per cent. Women workers show relatively higher participation in both these categories. In contrast, urban employment is concentrated in the services sector at 62 per cent, with regular wage or salaried jobs accounting for nearly half of all urban employment (49.8 per cent).
At an overall level in the second quarter of 2025-26, agriculture accounted for 42.4 per cent of total employment, self-employment for 55.8 per cent, and casual labour for 18.9 per cent, the survey said.
Gender gaps and unpaid work
While labour market indicators point to steady job growth, the survey highlighted persistent gender disparities, particularly in unpaid and caregiving work. Findings from the Time Use Survey (TUS), conducted by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, show that women continue to shoulder the dual burden — caregiving responsibilities and unpaid domestic labour — which may explain both their preference for, and concentration in, flexible work arrangements. Despite this, women’s overall workforce participation remains low, and their wages continue to be disproportionately lower.
TUS helps to measure the participation of men, women, and other groups of persons in paid and unpaid activities. In 2024, 75 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women aged 15-59 participated in employment and related activities during a 24-hour reference period, it found. This was an improvement from 2019, when participation stood at 70.9 per cent for men and 21.8 per cent for women in the same age group.
For people aged six years and above who participated in unpaid activities, the average time spent was 278 minutes per day, compared with 386 minutes for paid activities, the Economic Survey said. “Females spent, on average, 363 minutes a day on unpaid activities, while males spent only around 123 minutes a day on unpaid activities. Consequently, male participants spent 414 minutes a day in paid activities, against 302 minutes spent by female participants,” it stated.
The survey said women also spent more time on caregiving. Forty-one per cent of women aged 15-59 were involved in caregiving for household members, compared with 21.4 per cent of men.
Scope to raise women’s participation
Despite steady employment overall, the survey noted that women’s contribution to the workforce remains low and wages remain uneven. It said estimates suggest women’s labour force participation could rise to around 55 per cent by 2050 — a shift seen as critical to sustaining high gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
However, it warned that achieving this would require addressing the “dual burden” of paid and unpaid work borne by women, and investing in policies that promote shared domestic responsibilities and stronger care infrastructure.
The survey also highlighted gaps in education and skills. Data from PLFS 2023-24 show that women aged 25 and above with advanced degrees make up only 2.9 per cent of the employed female workforce across rural and urban areas. Women are also under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, accounting for 43 per cent of enrolment in 2021-22.
These trends, the survey said, may be linked to perceptions of STEM as a male domain, care responsibilities, early marriage and the cost of higher education.
To raise women’s participation in the workforce, the survey called for improvements in urban mobility, safer infrastructure, flexible working arrangements, affordable housing, employer-linked childcare and targeted skill development.
